Manderson told to give it up

(CNS): With his dad, Steve Manderson, and the other escaped prisoner, Chadwick Dale, back behind bars, the police are asking Marcus Manderson to give himself up to the authorities as time is running out for the young man, alone on the run. As the hunt for the last of the three inmates who escaped from HMP Northward on 14 August continued Wednesday morning following the early morning arrest of Steve Manderson (44), the officer leading the enquiry called on his 25-year-old son to give himself up. Detective Chief Inspector Malcolm Kay said he did not know what conditions he was living in and he was not sure the young man even had access to food or water.

Despite rumours in the community that the young man has already left the island, Kay said that he believes that Marcus Manderson is still in Cayman. The younger Manderson is serving a mandatory ten year sentence for the possession of an unlicensed firearm after he was recently convicted of attempting to throw away a modified flare gun after being chased by police. He is the last of the three mento evade capture after they all escaped from HMP Northward fourteen days ago.

“It’s now been two weeks since the three men escaped from prison,” DCI Kay said. “Two of them have been recaptured and are now back behind bars. It’s clear that the men have been living rough and we believe that they have stayed together since the breakout. Marcus is now out there on his own. He will be tired and feeling vulnerable. He must know that it’s only a matter of time before he too is recaptured."

Kay added, “It’s not known if he has access to food or water. But once again I would ask property owners and residents to report any suspicious activity or thefts from their premises." He said the support from the community for the officers involved in the hunt has been great.

“I know that people will be encouraged by the results we’ve had so far and I am confident that the joint operations with our colleagues in the prison service will ensure that the remaining prisoner is brought to justice,” Kay said in a release following Steve Manderson’s arrest.

More than 30 police officers have been dedicated to the operation to recapture the escapees. On Tuesday 20 August Chadwick Dale was arrested after an operation in the North Side area. Earlier this morning, Wednesday 28 August, Steve Manderson was arrested following an operation in Frank Sound. However Steve’s son Marcus remains at large.

The father and son duo along with Jamaican national Dale broke out of HMP Northward on the evening of 14 August via the kitchen block and by cutting their way through two parameter fences.

The escape happened just six weeks after the arrival from the UK of the new prison boss, corrections veteran Neil Lavis, who said that during thirty years in the British prison service no inmate had escaped from the prisons where he worked.

Admitting he had let the community down, he acknowledged that the fundamental part of his job, as the prison boss, is to keep the community safe and the prisoners inside.

Pointing to the poor state of the under-resourced prison, it is not yet clear if the local authorities intend to conduct a public enquiry into how three inmates, all convicted of violent offences including (in Steve Manderson’s case) murder, managed to spring themselves from the facility.

So far, there has been no major clamouring for Lavis’ head as the fall guy for the escape as it appears to be a result of the existing weaknesses in the prison system and the crumbling condition of the facility rather than down to any directly implemented policy by the new boss.

Anyone who has any information which could assist the enquiry is asked to contact their local police station. Any sightings of Marcus Manderson should be reported immediately to 911.