/ 20 October 2006

Slim prisoner back behind bars

An Australian prisoner shed 14kg so he could slip between the bars of his cell and escape, a court in Sydney was told on Friday.

Robert Cole (37) spent three days at large after escaping in January despite breaking his leg when he jumped from a high perimeter wall.

Cole used a butter knife to chip away at concrete and open up a 15cm gap between it and the bars of his cell, so the slimmed-down prisoner could slip through it.

Cole, a drug addict who was serving a sentence for burglary, was given another 21 months in Long Bay Jail. – Sapa-DPA