UK police arrest escaped convicted robber

LONDON, Oct 6: A convicted robber who escaped from a prison van on his way back to jail in central England last week is back in custody, police said today.

Craig Martin Hickinbottom was arrested yesterday in Smethwick in Birmingham by West Midlands Police in a joint operation with West Mercia Constabulary.

West Mercia Constabulary said two other men, aged 23 and 24, were also arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender unlawfully at large.

Hickinbottom has been on the loose since September 27 after a van taking him from Redditch Magistrates Court to nearby Blakenhurst Prison was stopped by a gang of masked men.

Hickinbottom was in jail serving a six-year sentence for robbery.

REUTERS