Fugitives 'hiding in west Belfast'

Ian Oliver Carlin (left) and David Albert Taggart

Police believe two prisoners who escaped from custody in County Down are hiding in west Belfast.

Three men overpowered a policeman in the cells of Downpatrick Courthouse just before 1400 BST on Thursday before making a run for freedom.

One of the men was apprehended inside the courthouse.

The police officer was taken to hospital, suffering from a head injury and shock.

The pair then hi-jacked the car of a woman parked near the St Patrick Centre in the town, after throwing her three-month-old baby off the back seat.

The woman is suffering from an arm injury and severe shock after being forced out of her car.

The car used by Ian Oliver Carlin, 31, from Ardglass, County Down and David Albert Taggart, 22, from Belfast, was found on Friday parked outside a nursing home between Castlewellan and Clough.

Police believe the pair may have been picked up in another vehicle by an accomplice.

Taggart is awaiting sentencing at Belfast Crown Court for the murder of retired Ulster Museum curator Lawrence Flanagan in April 2001. He has already admitted the murder.

Men escaped from Downpatrick Court House

He was appearing at Downpatrick Court on Thursday on motoring offences.

Police have described the men as dangerous, and warned the public not to approach them.

An eyewitness, who did not want to be named, said the men dragged the woman out of her car and threw her on the ground.

"The lady started screaming, 'My child, my child'.

"One of the other gentlemen grabbed the baby who was in the baby seat in the back and threw it out onto the ground," he said.

Appeal

A senior police officer co-ordinating the hunt for the two prisoners said it was the biggest manhunt in which he had been involved.

Hi-jacked car was found abandoned near County Down nursing home

District Commander Chief Superintendent Robbie Robinson made a direct appeal to the pair to give themselves up.

He said an internal investigation had been launched to find out what had happened.

He said the police officer who was overpowered had not been armed and the three prisoners were not handcuffed.

"In my opinion both are very dangerous and I would appeal to the public not to approach them, but to contact the detectives here at Downpatrick or at any station," he said.

"There are quite a number of detectives currently working on it.

"All ports have been notified and there's officers in other areas as well as this district looking for these people."

He revealed that the police officer had not been physically inside the cell when the situation developed.

He said that ferry terminals and ports as well as airports had been alerted, potential border crossings were being checked and Irish police were co-operating with the search.