Few subjects capture the public’s imagination more than the daring escape of dangerous criminals. In his latest thrilling book, former Scotland Yard detective Dick Kirby brings to life numerous examples of such dramatic events.These include the armed robber and a murderer lifted to freedom by helicopter from Gartree Prison football pitch. Later the mastermind, while serving a long sentence, escaped from Whitemoor top security prison with five IRA men shooting a warder with smuggled-in handguns and explosives.We learn of Zoe Progl, the only woman to go ‘over the wall’ from Holloway Prison, and serial escaper John ‘Ruby’ Sparks, who with the help of his lover, ‘The Bobbed-Haired Bandit’, got out of Dartmoor.Persistent escapers Roy ‘Rubberbones’ Webb and Peter ‘The Thin Man’ Shepherd were thus dubbed after squeezing through air vents, just ten inches square.Then there are the headline grabbing and politically embarrassing escapes of Great Train Robbers Ronnie Biggs and Charlie Wilson, master spy George Blake and the repeated efforts of Alfie Hinds.Having shot a police officer, David Martin, a bisexual cross-dresser and a prolific escaper, was finally caught by the Flying Squad, following an exciting chase through a London Underground tunnel.The author uses his extensive contacts, eye-witness accounts and official documents to describe in gripping detail these and more getaways of some of the most dangerous criminals ever to set foot in – or out of – Britain’s prisons. The result is unputdownable.
