The Escape (6 page)

‘I am so glad they agreed to let you be with me,’ she said, holding onto his hand.

‘Me, too, I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.’

‘I love you, Colin.’

‘I love you, too, and Barry.’

She wrinkled her nose and asked if he still really wanted to call the baby Barry.

‘Maybe, a bit later, I’ll explain why, but please agree. Like I suggested before, his second name can be Justin.’

Colin stayed with Karen all afternoon. She slept for a couple of hours, and her mother went home. Her father arrived with a bouquet of flowers. He was not very friendly to
Colin but, after seeing him proudly cradle his grandson, he too changed his mind. He said that he was glad that the prison authorities had allowed him out for the blessed event. He asked how long
he would be able to stay with Karen before he had to return to Barfield.

Colin said that he had to go back after forty-eight hours, not even hinting that he had escaped. Although he had intended to tell Karen, there never seemed to be the right moment and he
didn’t want to upset her. There would be time later to confess to her that he had actually absconded.

The search for Barry Marsden went on, but the police still had no idea where he was. They returned to his home address and this time his mother was in. She had been shocked to
hear that he had escaped from the court, and claimed to have no clue as to what he was up to or where he could be. When the police searched the house, she became vicious, outraged that they doubted
her word.

‘Believe me, if Barry had turned up here, I would have reported him immediately. He’s never done anything but cause me trouble,’ she said bitterly.

‘Sorry, we’re just doing our jobs, ma’am,’ a fresh-faced policeman replied as they went on searching the house.

As his mother had insisted, he wasn’t there, but, as the police were leaving, they asked for a list of anyone she thought he might be in contact with.

‘None of the family, I can tell you that for certain. He’s just a ruddy loser,’ she said with a coldness that sounded cruel.

Eventually, she gave the police some names and numbers, but told them it was a waste of their time. The police thanked her, but felt no further forward than when they had started.

Barry’s other relatives and known contacts were also questioned, but no one had seen or heard from him, and no one seemed to care a jot about him. The prison authorities were not happy.
They didn’t care that Marsden was a low-risk prisoner. The fact was, he had escaped and that made them look bad in the public eye. When the police reported back that they were unable to trace
Barry, the Governor of the prison ordered the cell to be searched for any clues. He also said that Barry’s cellmate, Colin Burrows, was to be brought to his office for questioning.

By late afternoon, East wing was buzzing with rumour and speculation among the inmates. A prisoner returning from a different court had heard two officers in reception talking
about a prisoner who had escaped. The officers were trying to lay the blame squarely on the female officer who’d escorted Barry Marsden.

‘What, the wimpy guy with the jam-jar glasses?’ a fellow inmate asked.

‘Yep, so don’t expect the screws to be in a good mood tonight.’

Barry was lying on Colin’s bed reading a comic when the officers unlocked and flung open the cell door. Then they dragged him into the corridor so they could carry out a
search. He’d managed to take off his glasses and hide them in his hand without being seen.

‘Governor wants a chat about your cellmate, Barry Marsden. Seems he’s disappeared. You know anything about that, do you?’ one officer asked, and poked him in the chest.

‘No, sir. He’s at court, sir.’

Barry kept his head down and tried to slip his glasses into his pocket. The officer, wondering what he was trying to hide, grabbed his hand and twisted it hard. Barry yelped in pain and dropped
the glasses. That was the moment the game was up, as the officer pulled his head back by the hair and recognised him as Barry Marsden, the presumed missing prisoner. At the same time, they found
the art pad and felt tips that Colin had hidden under Barry’s pillow.

The other prisoners on the block, who were watching through their cell-door windows, shouted, swore and banged loudly on the doors. They were outraged at the way a helpless
fellow prisoner was being treated. Barry picked up his glasses, put them back on and moved slowly along the landing. The officer got impatient and grabbed hold of him, forcing him to walk faster.
Some of the prisoners recognised Barry now he had his glasses on, and knew that it must have been Colin Burrows who had escaped. There was more jeering and swearing at the officers. It was part
shock and part admiration of an inmate who had so daringly escaped using the identity of his cell-mate.

Barry was really scared as he was manhandled and dragged through the corridors to the Governor’s office. He was shaking uncontrollably as he stood to attention in front of the
Governor’s desk with a prison officer either side of him. At first, he still tried to pretend to be Colin, but one of the officers gave him a hard clip round the back of the head. He then
claimed that prisoner Burrows had never told him anything about an escape plan. The Governor, who was now seething with anger, got up from his desk and went nose to nose with Barry.

‘I’m not a fool, so don’t make it any worse for yourself, son. Just admit that you helped him with his escape plan because YOU had to know about your court appearance,
right?’

‘I might have been told, sir, but I just forgot about it.’

‘Well, you’d better start remembering quickly, or you’ll be in solitary confinement for months, without so much as a piece of chalk to draw with!’ the Governor shouted,
and again an officer slapped the back of Barry’s head hard.

He was really frightened now, and couldn’t face the thought of being in solitary with no art book, felt tips or pencils. Sobbing and terrified, he changed his story and admitted that he
had known about the plan. He said he was scared of Colin Burrows and had to agree to let him take his place for the court appearance.

‘Did Burrows threaten you?’

‘Yes, sir. I was afraid not to do exactly what he told me.’

‘Do you know where he was planning to go?’

‘All I know is that he was desperate to be with his wife. She’s having a baby, sir, and he said he would do anything to be there at the birth.’

‘Did he say which hospital?’

‘No, sir.’

‘Take him back to his cell,’ the Governor snapped angrily.

He was worried that the press would get hold of the story, and that he and his staff would be made to look like a bunch of incompetent fools. He also knew that it could mean the end of his
career in charge of Barfield Prison.

As Barry was dragged back to his cell, he got a huge cheer when the inmates saw him. They all started singing as loud as they could, ‘There’s only one Barry
Marsden’, repeating the words over and over. The officers felt they were being made to look like idiots and, in anger, threw Barry back into his cell. He hit the floor and wall really hard,
hurting his right shoulder and arm. He wasn’t sure if he’d broken it, but he didn’t dare say anything as he knew the officers wouldn’t care anyway.

‘You are going to get a lot of extra time inside for this. Believe me, we’ll be watching your every move from now on.’

The cell door slammed shut as Barry crawled onto Colin’s bottom bunk and curled up in pain. The cell was a mess after the search. The officers had broken all his felt tips into pieces and
thrown them in the toilet.

The fact was many of the prison officers were going to be investigated for having allowed the escape to occur. The male officers had all been smug at first, trying to blame it
on the female officer who’d escorted Colin on the court run. They now realised they were all in big trouble, and there were plenty of excuses as the officers argued and accused each other.
Prisoner Burrows had fooled everyone who had dealt with him that morning. If just one of them had done his job properly and checked more closely, they would have recognised the switch and prevented
the escape. Now some of them might even lose their jobs.

The police couldn’t believe it when they were told that the escaped prisoner was actually Colin Burrows. The prison sent his picture, a full description and his home
address with a plea that they find and arrest him as soon as possible. They also told them that his wife Karen was pregnant and due to give birth, so they should check local maternity wards in case
Burrows was there.

Colin’s freedom was to be short-lived. Police forced entry into his flat and, finding nothing, spoke to the elderly neighbour. She was quick to reveal she’d seen Colin and he had
gone to hospital to be with his wife. At the same time, other officers went to Karen’s parents’ address, hammering on the front door. Her mother, frightened out of her wits, opened up.
She was certain something terrible had happened, and screamed as they pushed past her, shouting that they were looking for Colin Burrows.

‘He’s at St Mary’s hospital,’ she sobbed.

They radioed back this information, but paid her no attention as they searched her house. She insisted that her daughter had just given birth, and that Colin had permission to be there.

‘No, he hadn’t. He’s an escaped prisoner.’

‘Oh, my God! Oh, my God, my poor daughter! This is awful.’

Sirens blaring and blue lights flashing, two patrol cars, with three officers in each, pulled up in the hospital car park and ran into the building. It was terrible. The nurse
on duty was told to keep calm and point out which bed Mrs Burrows was in and if her husband was with her. They made the nurse so nervous that she was gasping for breath, but from the double-doors
opening onto the wing, she was able to show them Karen’s bed. The man they wanted was sitting beside his wife, cradling his newborn son in his arms.

Colin couldn’t help but hear the rumpus and, seeing the uniformed police in the doorway and the panic-stricken nurse, he knew his time was up.

He stood, looked them in the eye and turned to Karen.

‘I’m sorry, darling, I lied to you. I never had permission to be here. I pretended to be someone else, and did a runner from prison so I could be with you. It looks like the cops are
here for me.’

Three of the uniformed officers entered the ward, trying not to alarm all the new and expectant mothers. One officer called out for everyone to remain calm.

‘Come on out now, Burrows. Don’t scare everyone. Just walk towards us slowly and keep your hands up so we can see them.’

Colin kissed his son on the forehead before handing him to Karen, who was in floods of tears. He leaned forward to kiss her as well, but she turned her head away. He felt totally dejected and
rejected as he held his hands up and began to walk between the rows of beds. The noise had woken most of the sleeping babies and they were howling.

As Colin reached the officers, they snatched him and turned him roughly, pressing his face against the wall as they handcuffed his hands tightly behind his back. The cuffs hurt as they pinched
his skin. The officers grabbed him under the arms and dragged him forward, slamming his body against the swing doors as they headed for the lifts. They pressed for the lift, but it was on the top
floor so they pushed him towards the stairs.

‘There’s no need to be so rough. I’m not causing you any trouble.’

Colin half turned, wanting to explain he was giving himself up quietly and that he had only escaped to be at the birth of his son. Suddenly he lost his footing and, with his hands cuffed behind
him, couldn’t regain his balance or grab the safety rail. He fell down an entire flight of the staircase, hitting his head hard against the wall. The officers ran down to help him onto his
feet. He had a big round red mark on the side of his head, which was already starting to swell up, and his nose was bleeding.

By the time they got him to the patrol car, blood had dripped down his shirt. The driver got out and quickly opened the rear door.

‘What happened to him?’

‘Tried to do another runner and tripped down the stairs. Banged his nose, but it’s his own bloody fault,’ one officer said and threw Colin onto the back seat.

The patrol car screamed off with its blue light flashing. An officer radioed in to report that they had recaptured Colin Burrows and were taking him back to Barfield Prison.

The prison gates opened as the patrol car was signalled to enter. Four prison officers were waiting as the car stopped. Colin was dragged out, his head throbbing and the
swollen red mark turning into a bruise. He felt dizzy and sick to his stomach. The police officers handed him over to the prison guards, explaining that the bruises and bloody nose were down to him
trying to avoid arrest and escape again. One policeman even laughed and said, ‘They don’t run or get away from us once we nick ’em.’

The prison officers didn’t think it was funny, but Colin was so angry he stepped forward and kicked out, calling the policemen liars.

It was the worst thing he could have done, because his move made it look as if he had become violent. One of the prison guards punched him hard in the chest, knocking him backwards to the floor.
The next second, he was turned over with his face to the ground while the police handcuffs were taken off and replaced with a prison set. The police left as the guards pulled Colin up hard by his
arms, which felt as if they were being jerked out of their sockets. They then pushed him through the gate into reception.

The officer who had given him final clearance that morning was waiting angrily as they dragged him in. He was in a foul mood, because he had been called before the Governor to explain exactly
how he had allowed Colin to escape, and had been given a severe roasting. He knew he might be sacked or forced into early retirement, and he was furious. He walked over to Colin and took hold of
his face in his big lumpy hands and squeezed tightly.

‘You are going to be very sorry, Burrows. Your life in here won’t be worth living when we’re done with you.’