Four Escape From London Prison

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31080, 8 June 1966, Page 17

Four Escape From London Prison

(N.Z.P.A. Reuter—Copyright)

LONDON, June 7.

Four prisoners who escaped from a West London prison early yesterday after scaling a 20-foot wall were still at large last night.

The prisoners scaled the wall out of Wormwood Scrubs Prison, using an improvised rope attached to iron grappling hooks. Six men attempted the escape, but one was caught inside the grounds and another was recaptured soon after scaling the wall. The four who escaped are James O’Dea, aged 21, serving six years for rape; David Barnard, aged 21, serving eight years for assault with intent to rob; John Virtue, aged 21, serving a total of seven years

for assault with intent to rob, wounding with intent and robbery with aggravation; and Peter Finnegan, aged 28, serving a total of eight-and-a-half years for shopbreaking and larceny, storebreaking and larceny, burglary and larceny, and grievous bodily harm. Three women—one a murderer and another a woman who held police at bay with a rifle —were recaptured the previous night after escaping from a “family system” prison in Cheshire.

They had less than six hours of freedom.