Gardai in Waterford were searching last night for a prisoner who escaped after a gang intercepted a minibus taking him to Cork prison. They stopped the van and smashed its windscreen before helping the prisoner to escape.
The incident happened after the gang of three or four men overtook the van on the main Cork-Waterford road, shortly before 6 p.m. The escapee, Mr Adrian Duke from Farranree, Cork city, was one of two prisoners in the privately owned minibus.
The gang stopped its red Opel Astra car in front of the van, forcing the civilian driver to pull over. The men, who wore balaclavas, jumped from the car and used hammers to smash the windscreen of the minibus.
A Garda spokesman said the gang was possibly armed with a gun, but this had not been confirmed. The men made their getaway in the car, later found on Green Road, on the Tramore side of Waterford city.
Both prisoners had made court appearances in Waterford earlier in the day. Mr Duke, who was being held on remand at Cork prison, faces charges of robbery, a Garda source said. He appeared in court yesterday on a trespass charge which was struck out.
