Police are on the hunt for a violent British criminal who has escaped from a Portuguese prison, five years after a failed jail break.
Mark Roscaleer made headlines in August 2019, after he greased up his body with oil to slip through bars in a botched escape plan. At the time, he was awaiting trial for robbery and kidnapping charges at EP Lisbon.
Four years prior, Cheshire-born criminal turned himself into police after escaping from HMP Kirkham in Lancashire. He had been on the run for nine days during a jail break while serving a seven-year and four-month sentence for a horrifying pub raid in 2012.
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Today, the Portuguese Prison Service confirmed that the 39-year-old, who is currently serving a nine-year sentence for kidnapping and robbery, is one of five men on the loose.
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The group escaped from a prison in Alcoentre near the Portuguese capital Lisbon around 10am on Saturday morning ion a daring jailbreak that’s rocked Portugal. However, their absence was not noticed until a lunchtime roll-call.
Local reports suggest they used a ladder to climb the 20ft prison wall and were aided by accomplices waiting outside in a small black Mercedes, reports the Mirror.
Two Portuguese nationals and two Romanians are also on the run, including a convicted drug trafficker and a money launderer who were both serving 25-years. Authorities have called all the men “dangerous” and have warned the public not to approach them.
(Image: Getty Images)
It’s reported one of the prisoners used a firearm against police before he was arrested. An investigation into the prison break, which has been blamed on a lack of guards, has been launched.
Roscaleer, from Runcorn, was jailed for nine years in June 2020. The convicted burglar had been accused of putting a battery cable clamp on his victim’s nipple and penis with accomplice Robert George Anthony Wood, 20.
Held at an abandoned house on the Algarve, the torture session led to the terrified 45-year-old victim revealing where he stashed thousands of pounds at home. The British pair were extradited following the October 2, 2018 incident after it was discovered they were hiding in Spain.
(Image: Getty Images)
In an indictment submitted to Portimao Court ahead of their trial, state prosecutors accused them of robbing the victim at gunpoint before submitting him to “cruel, degrading and inhuman treatment” to try to force him into handing over more cash.
He was sent to HMP Kirkham in 2014 after admitting to aggravated burglary at an Ellesmere Port pub with an accomplice. Wearing a balaclava and holding a claw hammer, he demanded one of the licensees at the Gunners Arms pub to hand over the contents of the safe, waring: “Get a move on or I’ll smash your skull in”.
At the time Roscaleer was said to have 18 previous convictions for 32 offences, including possessing an offensive weapon, burglary, battery and threatening behaviour.
Portuguese television network TVI revealed that Roscaleer had been moved from Silves, Algarve after and escape attempt in May 2019.
The Portuguese Prison Service representative said: “From the preliminary assessment, through consultation of CCTV, it can be confirmed that the escape took place with external help through the use of a ladder that allowed the inmates to climb the wall and get outside.”
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