Prison bars sawn

Press, 16 April 1979, Page 7

Prison bars sawn

PA Auckland A Mount Eden Prison inmate escaped by sawing through the bars of his cell and climbing down a wall using an improvised rope, the Magistrate’s Court at Auckland has been told. He was later found to have possession of gelignite, detonators, and firearms, said Sergeant G. J. Crawford. Before Mr D. I. N. MacLean, S.M., was Keith Richard Marsh, aged 24, who pleaded guilty to escaping from the prison, unlawfully possessing a sawn-off shotgun and a .22 semi-automatic rifle, unlawfully possessing gelignite and detonators, and burgling a Takapuna firm.

He was convicted and remanded in custody to April 26 for a report and sentence. I Sergeant Crawford said (Marsh was sentenced to three years jail in October I last year. In January he was (at Mount Eden Prison. He obtained a hacksaw blade and cut. his way through two bars of his cell. On January 24 he got through the window, climbed over the roofs, and lowered himself to the ground using an improvised rope. Three days later Marsh broke into a spray painter’s premises at Takapuna and took a car. He went to Parnell, where seven sticks of gelignite and 10 detonators were hidden, and then travelled to New Plymouth and Hamilton. On February 13 he booked into a Hamilton motel using a false name. He left the next day, hiding a semi-au-tomatic rifle under the bed.

Sergant Crawford said that on February 16 the defendant was stopped by traffic officers. ;nd questioned about his speed. He Iran away carrying a sawnoff shotgun which he dropped when the officers gave chase. Detonators were found in the car. Marsh was subsequently found by the police.