1.
GV POLICE OUTSIDE SURREY MANSION
0.07

2.
LV POLICEMAN WITH TRACKER DOG
0.12

3.
SV THROUGH BRACKEN
0.19

4.
LV HOUSE THROUGH BRACKEN
0.24

5.
AIR VIEW HOUSE
0.30

6.
AIR VIEW. CLOSER SAME
0.38

7.
SV PAN..CARS PARKED NEAR HOUSE
0.45

8.
GV HOUSES NEAR PRISON PAN TO PRISON WALL
0.53

9.
LV BOY WORKS ON MOTOR BIKE
0.58

10.
LV DITTO AS HE LOOKED UP
1.04

11.
SV EYE WITNESS TALK TO NEIGHBOUR
1.12

12.
GV ZOOM IN FURNITURE VAN OUTSIDE PRISON
1.18

13.
GV PRISON BUILDINGS (2 SHOTS)
1.25

14.
CU PRISONER INTERVIEW. SOF: "WHAT'S THE ATMOSPHERE IS THERE LIKE THIS MORNING... ENDS: OFFICER SITTING OUTSIDE THE TRAIN ROBBER'S DOOR ALL NIGHT."
2.15

15.
GV PRISON GATES
2.21


A PRISONER RELEASED FROM WANDSWORTH 24 HOURS AFTER THE ESCAPE SPOKE TO OUR REPORTER TODAY:--



QUESTION: "WHAT'S THE ATMOSPHERE IN THERE LIKE THIS MORNING?"



ANSWER: "OH, THE PRISONERS WERE DELIGHTED ABOUT BIGGSY, BUT THE OFFICERS THERE WERE NOT SO KEEN."



QUESTION: "DID YOU EVER MEET BIGGS WHILE YOU WERE IN THERE?"



ANSWER: "OH YES. HE WAS IN MY WING THERE AND HE WAS IN A SPECIAL SECURITY SHOP. THEY HAD TOP SECURITY AND AN OFFICER OUTSIDE HIS DOOR ALL NIGHT. BUT NO ONE DREAMED HE WOULD GO IN THE DAYTIME."



QUESTION: "WHAT SECURITY PRECAUTIONS DID THEY TAKE AFTER CHARLIE WILSON ESCAPED?"



ANSWER: "WELL, ALL OUTSIDE DOORS HAD A HALF-INCH SHEET OF STEEL PUT ON THEM, WHICH BLOCKS ALL WINDOWS OUT. NEW SECURITY LOCKS WERE PUT IN BOLTS ON ALL INSIDE DOORS SO THEY COULDN'T OPEN FROM OUTSIDE, AND, AS I SAY, THE OFFICER SITTING OUTSIDE THE TRAIN ROBBER'S DOOR ALL NIGHT."



(A "SEARCHING" INQUIRY INTO THE ESCAPE HAS BEEN PROMISED BY THE GOVERNMENT. THE HOME SECRETARY, SIR FRANK SOSKICE, SAID THAT AS FAR AS HE COULD SEE THE PRISON SERVICE WAS IN NO WAY TO BLAME FOR WHAT HAPPENED. HE WAS SATISFIED ABOUT PRECAUTIONS AT OTHER PRISONS AROUND THE COUNTRY, WHERE THE REST OF THE LONG TERM TRAIN ROBBERS ARE BEING HELD).




Initials JT/V-B/RM/SGM


PART TELERECORDING

Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: IN BRITAIN, A MASSIVE HUNT IS UNDER WAY FOR THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBER, RONALD BIGGS, WHO MADE A DARING ESCAPE FROM A LONDON JAIL YESTERDAY (THURSDAY). TODAY, POLICE COMBED THE GROUNDS OF A MANSION IN SURREY, NEAR LONDON, AFTER A REPORT HE WAS THERE. THE SEARCH YIELDED NOTHING.

BIGGS, WHO ESCAPED WITH THREE OTHERS, WAS SERVING 30 YEARS FOR HIS PART IN THE GBP2,600,000 ROBBERY TWO YEARS AGO. A SECOND ROBBER, CHARLES WILSON, IS STILL AT LARGE AFTER BREAKING OUT OF A BIRMINGHAM JAIL ELEVEN MONTHS AGO.

POLICE WERE FLOODED WITH CALLS ABOUT THE LATEST ESCAPE. THE HOTTEST LEAD SEEMED TO BE THE SURREY MANSION REPORT, BUT A THOROUGH SEARCH FOUND NOTHING AND WAS CALLED OFF.

IT WAS FROM THE GRIM WANDSWORTH PRISON IN SOUTH LONDON THAT THE 35-YEAR-OLD BIGGS ESCAPED. HE CLIMBED OVER THE WALL, WHERE A GANG WAS WAITING. A PRISON OFFICIAL'S 17-YEAR-OLD SON, WORKING ON HIS MOTOR-CYCLE, PICKED UP A SPANNER AND TRIED TO INTERVENE. HE WAS FORCED BACK AT GUNPOINT.

THE WIFE OF ANOTHER PRISON OFFICIAL WAS ALSO AN EYEWITNESS. SHE WAS SITTING IN THE LOUNGE OF HER HOME NEAR THE PRISON WHEN SHE SAW THE ESCAPERS CLIMB OVER THE WALL. THEY JUMPED ONTO A FURNITURE VAN THROUGH A SLIDING ROOF, CHANGED THEIR CLOTHES, AND MADE OFF BY CAR.