GARDAI will today intensify their search for Thomas "Bomber" Clarke, the convicted armed robber who escaped from a Garda van bringing him from Portlaoise prison to a Dublin court yesterday morning.
Garda and prison officer sources were privately blaming each other for the escape yesterday at 10.30 a.m. near the Green Isle Hotel on the Naas Road. Three masked and armed men in a stolen BMW car rammed the van, smashed the windows and forced the prison officers to remove Clarke's handcuffs.
Clarke (27), had a "medium security" escort made up of one unarmed garda and four unarmed prison officers security similar to that used on each of his last four journeys from the prison to the courts. He was serving a five year sentence for armed robbery but was on weekly remand for an additional alleged offence.
Garda sources said the prison authorities had not requested a higher level of security but they would now be "reviewing" procedures following the escape. The Department of Justice will also reconsider security arrangements when transporting prisoners.
"There was a Garda van and a Garda driver, an assistant chief officer and three prison officers, and the prisoner was handcuffed," said a spokesman. "We felt that what we had was sufficient."
Officials from the Department, of Justice will today meet representatives of the Prison Officers Association to review the incident and discuss the absence of an armed escort. Mr Tom Hoare of the POA said his association wanted to know who made the decision not to include armed Garda.
"There is no doubt to my mind that this was a dangerous man. He had already escaped from a British prison and had broken a prison officer's hand trying to escape here," said Mr Hoare.
The Fianna Fail spokesman on justice, Mr John O'Donoghue, said yesterday's escape was a "clear indication" the criminal class now believed it had a right to insist on the freedom of its colleagues.