Inmates fled jail to escape drugs (From Gazette Series)

Inmates fled jail to escape drugs

TWO inmates who fled from from Leyhill Open Prison and handed themselves in at a secure jail the next day are not to be prosecuted for absconding.

The Crown Prosecution Service announced last week it had dropped the charge against the pair because it does not believe it would be in the public interest to proceed.

Reformed drug addicts Audie Carr, 29, and Benjamin Clarke, 23, had walked out of Leyhill because they were concerned drugs were freely available there and they might get hooked again.

They walked through the night for about 20 miles Gloucester Prison where they knocked on the doors asking to be let in.

Carr, of Hereford, and Clarke, of Gloucester, were then charged with escape from lawful custody and were committed for crown court trial by Gloucester magistrates.

But at Gloucester Crown Court Adrian Foster, prosecuting, said that having reviewed the "individual circumstances" of the case the Crown Prosecution Service had decided to discontinue charges.

Normally, offences of escape were regarded very seriously but in this case there was regard to the unusual circumstances.

"No violence or threats or damage was caused during the escape from Leyhill," he said. "They were at large for only 17 hours.

"They missed roll call at 8.30pm at Leyhill and knocked on the Gloucester prison door at 12.51 the following afternoon.

"They attended a more secure prison than the one they had left and the reason they gave was to get off drugs.

"They felt that they would be better off at Gloucester prison then they would at Leyhill.

"They are, as I understand it, at Gloucester Prison currenty and are on the drugs-free wing."

Judge Jamie Tabor QC said this meant they were on the wing where they would undergo voluntary drug tests to confirm they were not using any illicit substances.

Giles Nelson, defending both men, said: "They were concerned, frankly, about the regime at Leyhill when they were moved there.

"They did not go back to Gloucester Prison to get off drugs. They were off drugs already and were very concerned about what was happening to them at Leyhill."