Gartree prison escape by helicopter 1987
 

it says here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helicop...tershire.2C_UK

about the only ever escape by helicopter from a UK prison and I remember seeing the CCTV video on the news of them rotors running on the ground while the the convicts jumped in

but I do not know who the hijacked pilot was, what exactly happened and where the aircraft originated from ?

anyone got more details of the aviation side of this incident ?

regards

CF

I hope they were given a full safety briefing prior to getting in. :}

Remembered this being discussed before so knew where to look.

http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthr...05#post2936705

V

Also in this thread Here

Foiled Prison Break!
 

Prison escape plot foiled by staff - Yahoo! News UK

Could have been nasty!

Just goes to show, Don't imprison terrorists, shoot them

Now...Now...Art....cool off there buddy!

I thought a bit of rope stretching would be a better method!

Done the way it is done in the old country.....dead weight method and not the old English style of a long drop with a sudden stop.

and since then all the open areas at high security prisons have had wires over them. Thus i feel their master plan was fatally floored.!:}

in fact if you check out live search maps for the prison, you can see the supporting posts for the wires across the sports field..!!

So if ya wuz to fly through the wires with your trusty helicopter fitted with them amazing wire cutters....the ones that look like a Bell 212 Dihedral Sail sort of things....cut them wires down.....then Bob's yer Uncle...right!

If it was stopped just hours before, and they were going to hijack a chartered Helicopter, Which company would it of been??

Was anyone on here suppose to fly that trip???

This thread could be very different if they hadnt of caught them.........

Good job I say, and quite agree with the above ideas....

That was in December 1987.

A B206 was hijacked by an armed man and used to spring the two prisoners. Gartree was a high security prison in those days - but the authorities hadn't anticipated escape by helicopter.


http://www.hmprisonservice.gov.uk/as...0B3gartree.jpg


Following this incident, wires were installed across the open areas of high security prisons.

The pilot of the B206 was Uncle Ian of 'Age Discrimination' fame.

The helicopter was on the ground for only 20-25 seconds and the prisoners disembarked about 5 minutes flying time away and made good their escape by road.

Two prisoners escaped - John Kendall, serving 10 years for organising a series of high value commercial burglaries and another serving life for murder. Both were eventually recaptured.

I can't now remember if that was Kendall's first or second escape. He was also sprung from a prison van while being transferred by road from Parkhurst prison on the Isle of Wight to another prison on the mainland.

I represented one of Kendall's gang in their trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court and remember it well for 2 reasons.
Firstly, the gang had used an extremely simple and almost comical - but very effective - method to steal large quantities of high value goods (mainly alcohol and tobacco products) from cash & carry warehouses in night time burglaries all over the South East. They had a long run, until an underworld informant tipped off the police who laid in wait for them at their next job.

Secondly, the evidence against the man I represented wasn't very strong to begin with and, after cross-examination, was even weaker. He was said to have run off when the police sprang their trap. Things looked very promising for my client, who vehemently protested his innocence - until an elderly lady who'd seen a man escaping from the police gave evidence.
She had given a description of the man to the police (said by the prosecution to be of my defendant) and repeated it in court but it could have fitted half the under-25 males in the country. All continued to go well, until she added that she remembered he was wearing an unusual sweater with a very distinctive geometric pattern, and described it, including the colours.

I noticed a couple of jurors looking towards the dock and smirking, then whispering to other jurors who in turn all looked at the dock and smirked. Then another barrister passed me a note telling me to look behind to the dock.
I didn't need to - I'd already worked out what I'd see if I did!


FL

FL,

Coincidence your client was wearing the same piece of apparel....or a very astute old woman?:E

Perhaps you should have sprung for a new suit and haircut for your man!:uhoh:

As it turns out....perhaps you should specialize in criminal defense work....and do your part of reducing crime in the country.

Just get your fee up front and remember the defendant does the time!:ok:

FL
A great post, fascinating.

These terrorist b******s would have had to charter something pretty large to lift 9. Has anyone been making inquiries about such a charter? http://i334.photobucket.com/albums/m...2637784011.jpg

Flying Lawyer... It wasnt an 206 L1 by any chance?

Heads up
 

This prison escape is featuring in a documentary this evening on ITV4 (ITV+1, presumably) at 2100.

The hijacked pilot was none other than our very own Uncle Ian :ok:

Cheers

Whirls

cheers whirlygig already got it set to record.

ITV4 is channel 120 sky, 028 Freeview, it isnt ITV+1

regards

CF

ITV+1 is Sky 180 :ok: You need to get past Men & Motors there Freddie :}

Cheers

Whirls

Another foiled prison break in Greece yesterday, using one of Air Lift's 355Ns.

Prison guards avert convict's copter escape

http://photo.ekathimerini.com/kath/e...r_390_2402.jpg

My first ever helicopter ride
 

It must have been in 1988/89 when I purchased a charity helicopter ride in what I recall was a Jetranger of some type painted in the black and gold JPS colours - maybe someone remembers this? Anyway, it turned out that the pilot had been the one hijacked for this prison breakout - I think the story was that he was left handcuffed at the scene of the eventual landing. I'll never forget that 'magic carpet ride' feeling that left me determined to get a PPL(H) one day! My thanks to Uncle Ian whom I now understand, thanks to earlier posts, it was! (Note to self: find out who 'Uncle Ian' is):)
2S

These kind of jail breaks are becoming so common they should assign a specific squawk code to it.
e.g. 5275 (JBRK) :E