Handcuff training after murderer escapes

Staff at the country’s biggest women’s prison have been given extra training on how to use handcuffs after an ill-fitting pair allowed a convicted murderer to escape. Katrina Epiha escaped custody while at Middlemore Hospital in 2020 and went on the run for nearly two weeks. But at her sentencing on Wednesday, Manukau District Court Judge Sanjay Patel revealed Epiha had slipped out of ‘‘handcuffs that were not secured tightly’’. She had been cuffed to one of the Corrections officers, but managed to wriggle her hand out, holding it in her pocket so no-one would notice. Once outside the hospital she fled. A ‘‘full operational review’’ was carried out, which found the Corrections officer had not used an insert which helped cuffs fit people with smaller wrists, a spokesman said. Additional training was provided to all relevant staff at Auckland Region Women’s Corrections Facility.