Career criminal Derek Brockwell on way to English prison

Derek Brockwell, an armed robber who escaped from a prison officers in Dublin last month, has been transferred to a jail in England, police said.

The Glaswegian (53) fled custody in the Republic last month and was captured by police in Belfast.

Gardaí arrested three people in connection with his violent escape earlier this week.

Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Supt Paula Hillman said: “PSNI can confirm that Derek Brockwell, who was unlawfully at large from the Republic of Ireland, has been released from hospital and transferred to Her Majesty’s Prison Frankland, England.”

Brockwell had been receiving treatment in the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast since his arrest on February 18th in Belfast city centre.

Officers hit him with a Taser after he stabbed himself.

He was transferred to England on Wednesday.

Recaptured

Two men and a woman have been held at Garda stations in Dublin over his escape from the city. They were arrested in Ashbourne, Co Meath and Portlaoise, Co Laois.

Brockwell was recaptured after being caught drinking a pint close to two Belfast shops he is suspected of holding up with a knife.

He is also wanted by police in England, where he failed to return to prison in Lancashire to serve a series of life sentences having been out on day release. Brockwell was being taken to Tallaght Hospital from Portlaoise Prison for a medical appointment when he escaped. Two prison officers accompanying him were stabbed in the incident, with one requiring emergency surgery for a stomach wound.

He was picked up outside the hospital by an accomplice on a motorcycle.

Brockwell was given 22 life sentences in the UK for armed robbery and had appeared as a wanted man on the BBC’s Crimewatch show.

The serial criminal was two years into a seven-year sentence for armed robbery after he admitted holding up the Bank of Ireland in Blackrock, Co Dublin, in October 2012. He was also convicted of robbing a post office and a bookmaker’s as well as for firearms offences in Dublin.

Brockwell landed in Ireland after failing to return to Kirkham Prison in England. He carried out armed robberies on betting shops in Marylebone and Paddington areas of London during September and October 1999.

A report has been ordered into the circumstances of the escape by Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald.