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Date Published: 12/09/2024

British torture convict escaped from Portuguese prison could be in Spain

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The border between Portugal and northern Spain has been sealed off as the search for the five escaped fugitives intensifies

British torture convict escaped from Portuguese prison could be in Spain

Portuguese and Spanish Police have mounted a frantic search on both sides of the border after five high-security inmates, including one Brit, escaped from the Vale de Judeus prison, some 70 kilometres north of Lisbon, on Saturday September 7. Fears are now growing that the men somehow slipped passed the patrols and entered Spain.

They are “dangerous” people, with a “violent” character and “capable of killing to remain free,” according to Luís Neves, director of the Portuguese Judicial Police.

One of the wanted men is 39-year-old Brit Mark Roscaleer from Runcorn near Liverpool, sentenced to 9 years in the maximum security prison. He was convicted, along with an accomplice, of torturing and electrocuting a 45-year-old man to find out where he kept his cash after the pair broke into the victim’s home.

When he was first accused, Roscaleer went into hiding in Spain, and although he was eventually extradited to the Algarve to stand trial, there’s a high likelihood that he could return. According to the authorities, he already has two escape attempts under his belt.

The other escapees are Fábio Loureiro and Fernando Ferreira, both Portuguese, the Georgian Shergili Farjiani and the Argentine Rodolfo Lohrmann.

Their criminal profiles are varied, there is a known drug trafficker, a kidnapper and experts in extortion and money laundering, but they all have something in common: they are considered highly dangerous and the public has been urged to call the authorities immediately if they are spotted; under no circumstances should any of these men be approached.

An investigation is underway into their seemingly simple escape.

Vale de Judeus prison on Google Maps

The criminals made their move during visiting hours at around 10am, when only 33 of the 50 surveillance posts in the prison were manned. Incredibly, a single guard was left to monitor the 200 cameras that keep watch over the 560 inmates.

Even more frightening is the fact that the electrified fence had been switched off because it was causing power cuts in the prison itself.

CCTV footage captured the fugitives hopping over the first two-metre wall and walking along a two-metre strip before reaching the outer wall of the prison. Here, three accomplices were waiting. They threw a ladder and a rope over, and just like that, the escapees were out.

It took 65 minutes for anyone to notice that some of the most dangerous criminals in Portugal were missing, at which point they were long gone in two escape vehicles.

While the escape was clearly well orchestrated and required outside help, Portugal’s Minister of Justice, Rita Alarcão Júdice, has had to concede that it also “resulted from a successive chain of serious, gross and unacceptable errors and failures.”

In other news: British tourist robbed and sexually assaulted by trio of thieves in Spain

Images: Policia Nacional/Google Maps

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