We heard a rumour during the Festival that there was a large hub-ub at the Isle of Wight Prison, connected to goings-on on the roof.
We were unable to verify the story, so didn’t run anything on it.
Seeing a story emerge that an escape by helicopter from the Prison over the Festival had been foiled, we wondered if there was a connection.
Brian Lawrence, 67, a retired schoolteacher originally from Berkshire, is serving a minimum tariff of 21 years for murder and plotting two further killings.
Apparently he decided that he didn’t fancy this too much longer and decided he would try and hot-foot it out via a helicopter from the Prison.
He planned it by writing messages using lemon juice as invisible ink and codes hidden in sudoku puzzles, but was rumbled by Prison authorities.
The BBC are reporting that “It is believed Lawrence targeted the festival, as members of the public would be less suspicious of a helicopter due to the air movements associated with the music event.”
To pay for it, they say that he planned to sell a quarry in Newbury, Berkshire, then flee to Spain.
Crazy.
Image: c0t0s0d0 under CC BY-SA 2.0
