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Updated 12.40pm
THE HEAD OF the Prison Officers Association says that questions need to be asked about the escape of a prisoner from custody yesterday.
Derek Brockwell (53), a UK national, had been serving a seven-year sentence at Portlaoise prison for robbery and possession of firearms.
He escaped yesterday, stabbing two prison officers while being brought to Tallaght Hospital. He fled the area on a waiting motorbike.
In the Dáil, Taoiseach Enda Kenny said that the Minister for Justice, Frances Fitzgerald, has sought a full report on the incident and expressed sympathy over the stabbing of the two prisoner officers.
“They’ve shown great courage in dealing with some very difficult situations,” Kenny told the Dáil while denying that the escape was a result of cutbacks.
Earlier, speaking to RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Stephen Delaney said that Brockwell was a “violent” criminal.
This event highlights the dangerous job of the prison officer. These officers faced a violent, hardened criminal with a lethal weapon who was trying to escape.The advice from the gardaí to the public is not to approach a man.
He said that the planning of the escape was “meticulous” and it had raised questions on the arrangements of the escort.
“We are requesting a complete review of all prison escorts. He was in a maximum security prison, with army personnel on the walls, yet he was sent with three unarmed prison officers for a regular hospital
He said that Brockwell was handcuffed, but the stabbing occurred inside the hospital after a “violent struggle” with officers.
Brockwell had an armed Garda escort until last year, and Delaney said that his incarceration in Portlaoise, coupled with his record, indicated a “dangerous, violent criminal”.
He said that there were “less and less” armed Garda escorts leaving Portlaoise Prison.
Routine
Retired Detective Chief Superintendent John O’Brien — who worked as a garda in the Portlaoise area, and with Interpol — said routine was an enemy of any security operation.
The predictability thing is something you would look at very, very clearly because this was an individual who is — as you can see now in his publicly available profile — someone with a previous history of violence, previous history of escape and previous history or armed and violent crime.
He said that in terms of the search operation, Interpol would play a role circulating information worldwide.
“But, you know, criminals — and I’m sure this guy is no different — are creatures of habit. They tend to return to the same nest that they’ve been before,” he told RTÉ’s Sean O’Rourke.
O’Brien said the criminal clearly had “someone looking after him” based on the manner in which he’d made his escape.
Recovering
Both prison officers are said to be recovering this morning, having undergone surgery last night.
Gardaí are appealing for information on Brockwell’s whereabouts, and have released the above image.
Brockwell is described as being 6’03’’ tall with brown hair and broad build.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Tallaght Garda Station on 01- 6666000, the Garda Confidential Telephone Line on 1800 666 111, or any Garda Station.
- additional reporting from Daragh Brophy and Hugh O’Connell
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Anybody surprised anymore?
@Jason O Flynn: New Yorkers ard clapping themselves on the back for introducing legislation to stop loons buying semi-automatics on their 18th birthday…. they now have to be 22 FFS WHEN WILL THEY EVER LEARN…..
@Jason O Flynn: Nope… Sadly, very very sadly, not.
But it really does not only depend on whether or not people are allowed to have fun licences and then go buy weapons, its also the culture the person or people grow up in. I.e. do they respect one another or do they just respect guns and the power it gives them. Look at Germany, people can get handguns etc. But guncrime is almost nonexistent.
https://ourworldindata.org/homicides#the-global-distribution-of-homicides
@Lilly Passet-De Nais: totally agree. Unfortunately I don’t think a 2 year old understands any thing about culture they grow up in or respect for people or guns.
@Jason O Flynn: sad when you live in a society where there is a need to carry a concealed weapon (cwp) to go about your Daily life
RIP. Poor child, life is ruined before it even starts.
@Connor Coady: not really. Hopefully he’ll not even remember it as he grows up. By the sounds of the parents past the kid is probably better off without him.
@Connor Coady: The Parents we’re solely responsible for the safe storage of that gun. Severe child neglect going on here.
@Kevin: Until he wonders where his daddy is. He’ll hardly understand he wasn’t to blame.
‘Multiple offense of child neglect’ says it all really.
Would anyone be surprised if it was actually the mother who shot him and shes now saying the child did it.
@Brian Murray: the ma was in jail at the time and still is. Glad that yer man ate it rather than one of the kids.
@Rob Gale: If she was in jail at the time, how do you explain the fact she was doing CPR on her husband when the police arrived ?
@Tommy Roche: Magic? Whoops, I mean, thoughts and prayers?
@Tommy Roche: after he got shot he stumbled out the door and slumped up against the jailhouse wall which they lived beside. She reached out of her jail window and did chest compressions and leaned out between the bars to blow air in his mouth. But he died anyway.
@Rob Gale: she was found giving her husband CPR
What a messed up country it really is.
Put the price of ammunition up 10,000% . Americans won’t change gun laws so put the price of ammunition out of the reach !
@Max Power: agree but I lived in America for a number of years and met a few that made there own bullets. Mad country the US is.
@Max Power: Chris Rock has a brilliant sketch about that.
How could a 2 year old pull a trigger his little fingers wouldn’t even hold a gun
@Margaret Mcgarry: Exactly this. It takes a fair amount of pressure to pull a trigger on a handgun. Not a chance a 2 year old could manage it
@Gerry from the Block: no it doesn’t. Hair trigger. You’ve obviously never shot/held a hand gun.
@Margaret Mcgarry: it depends on the model, some are designed with multiple points that your hand has to cover before it will fire, others have hair triggers.
Rule one is never had a loaded gun
The gun is a Glock 9mm, which weighs three pounds when loaded and takes 4.5 to 5.5 pounds of pressure to pull the trigger, was a 2 yo really capable to handle and fire the gun? This is not a clear-cut case.
@Wilton Technology – Cleaning & Hygiene Supplies: I have only ever fired a Sig Sauer. But yes, i take your point about the hair triggers. Hadn’t thought of it. My experience wouldn’t be great
@Gerry from the Block: most likely a hair trigger.. feckin look at those things and they go off!
@Dr. Emmett Lathrop Brown: pretty sure they would have checked for gun residue. It’s not difficult to determine who pulled the trigger.
Mhurrriccccaaaaa FK yeaahhhhhhhhh
The only way to avoid this going forward is to ensure we arm domestic appliances…
That place is a circus. Tragedy after tragedy
If only a good guy had had a gun they could have stopped the bad toddler with a gun.
In the US you say? I, for one am shocked that such a thing could happen there.
Considering the child neglect charges – was this a case of “good guy with gun stops bad guy”? Pretty sure some of the 2A thumpers will say it is
And the Americans think that more “good guys” with guns could stop this sort of tragedy. More guns ONLY equals more deaths.
He was shot in the back!
Yet somehow law enforcement originally believed he committed suicide.
American Law Enforcement really isn’t the brightest.
Was in a Walmart in Connecticut- couldn’t buy an apple or banana but guns and ammo where easily available
The Republicans are probably blaming the number of doors in the house.
I wonder how badly “accidentally” is needed when writing a title referring to a 2 year old… I haven’t met that many kids aged 2 shooting people deliberately to be honest…
Sounds like he should have bumped both parents
Don’t be surprised to see a 2 year old being charged either…
May he Rest in Peace
What’s New. Guns all over the US.
It could be argued the American constitution as it stands will be the downfall of America. As in many cases downfalls happen from within.
Children in America learn all the important things in life at an early age.
If a child is shown how to handle and use a gun at even 2 years old they can repeat this process on their own.
Murica
If the dad had a gun, he could have defended himself…
Was in a Walmart in Connecticut- couldn’t buy an apple or banana but guns and ammo where handy enough
@S: Bananas, lol
I’m guessing trigger pull weight at probably a bit under 6 pounds – also the size of the grip for the 2 year old child’s hands to go around . I find this a very unlikely scenario .
None the less tragic for all involved and abject stupidity leaving a gun accessible .
@Self Employed Anarchist: Guns can go off surprisingly easy. I was watching Barry one night and there were two characters, a mother and son, who were sitting in a parked car discussing how they were going to kill Barry because he assassinated their father/husband. She was just sitting their in the car with the shotgun telling him that she would do it herself, she didnt want her son involved, and the gun just went off and shot him in the abdomen
@Pauline Gallagher: Guns can go off surprisingly easy. I was watching Barry one night and there were two characters, a mother and son, who were sitting in a parked car discussing how they were going to kill Barry because he assassinated their father/husband. She was in the middle of telling her son that she would do it herself, she didn’t want him involved , and the gun just went off and shot him in the abdomen
@Self Employed Anarchist: Mind you, if you ever had long hair and a baby got a grip on it, you wouldn’t doubt the strength, it’s usually a survival instinct to hold on tightly. Tragic accident. I hope the children have a decent chance in a new home.
This might not have been an accident.
Maybe we should train 2year olds in safe gun use?
Another senseless door death.
I agree it won’t fix America but smart guns will allow you to lock your gun like you might lock your iPhone and could prevent some of these domestic tragedies.
I’ll bet the next US headlines will be about hackers triggering loaded guns regardless, much to everyone’s surprise.
have your say