Violent British prisoner on the run after ‘using a ladder to escape Portuguese jail’ – as cops launch urgent manhunt
A VIOLENT Brit inmate has escaped a Portuguese jail in a mass prison break.
Authorities have confirmed Mark Roscaleer – serving nine years for kidnap and robbery – is on the run along with five other men.
CCTV footage from the jail caught the prisoners – two Portuguese, two Romanians and a British man – escaping through the wall that protects the prison.
They escaped from a prison near Lisbon on Saturday morning, although cops did not notice their disappearance until lunchtime, it is reported.
The prisoners reportedly used a ladder to scale the 20ft jail wall and were assisted by accomplices who were waiting outside for them in a small black Mercedes.
A member of the prison guard corps told Expresso: “They went out of the cells into the courtyard and then, with a ladder hidden outside, they climbed over the six-metre-high wall and escaped”.
Portuguese authorities have described all five men as “dangerous” and warned members of the public not to approach them.
One of them is reported to have used to have a firearm against police, the official added.
Cops have now launched an urgent manhunt to get hold of the prisoners on the loose.
An investigation into the embarrassing prison break is ongoing.
Roscaleer was jailed for nine years in June 2020 after a trial at an Algarve court.
He was found guilty of torturing a victim by putting a battery cable clamp on his intimate areas.
He was also jailed for four years at Chester Crown Court in March 2014 after admitting to aggravated burglary at an Ellesmere Port pub with an accomplice.
In 2019, the British convict tried to break the jail in Lisbon by smothering his body in oil in a bid to slip through the bars.
However, cops foiled his notorious escape plot.
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