Violent prisoner Andrew Farndon, serving an indeterminate jail sentence for a brutal hammer attack, has gone on the run after being sprung from the clutches of prison officers by an armed accomplice.
Andrew Farndon, made the "planned" escape as he was being escorted to West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, for treatment yesterday.
His escape is the second in just a week, after an "extremely dangerous" category A prisoner, murder suspect John Anslow, was sprung from a prison van after it left Hewell Prison in Worcestershire.
It is understood that 26-year-old Farndon inflicted a serious knife wound on himself in prison, before being taken to the hospital's Accident & Emergency (A&E) department in a taxi accompanied by two guards.
Although Farndon was handcuffed to a female officer, she removed the handcuffs after being threatened with a handgun by another man.
Upon arrival, a waiting gunman confronted the male and female prison officials and threatened them with his weapon, before fleeing with Farndon across the car park, Suffolk Police said.
It is the second time Farndon has tried to escape authorities, as he previously lept from the dock in Coventry Crown Court in 2007 as he was being sentenced. He was sentenced in his absence to an indeterminate sentence for public protection (IPP) and told he must serve at least two years before being considered for parole.
Police said they were contacted just after 6.50pm by hospital staff who witnessed the incident. The prison officers, who had travelled from Highpoint prison in Stradishall, near Newmarket, called moments later.
The guards, both in their late 20s to early 30s, are being questioned by police. No-one was hurt in the incident.
Officials had only classed him as a category C prisoner - meaning he was deemed unlikely to make a determined escape attempt.
Detective Chief Inspector Nick Bennett said Farndon had been taken to hospital in a saloon from a local taxi firm, after reporting the serious but non life-threatening knife wound. He said he understood it was standard practice to transport prisoners to hospital by taxi unless there is a "specific risk".
Speaking outside Bury St Edmunds police station today, Bennett said the hunt had been extended to forces across the country.
Police said a force helicopter scoured the area following the escape, while dogs were deployed in an attempt to find Farndon and his accomplice, but Bennett said the likelihood now was that Farndon was elsewhere.
He said: "Along with other forces, we are pursuing various lines of inquiry, including contacting his friends and associates in the West Midlands.
"We are also studying CCTV and number-plate recognition records to try to identify the car which was used in the escape. The prison officers are still shaken and it was obviously a terrifying ordeal."
He said all of the evidence pointed towards Farndon inflicting the injury on himself or somebody else deliberately harming him to aid his escape.
Farndon's cell at Highpoint has been searched and no blade was found. Bennett said the decision to transport Farndon in a taxi was "a matter for the prison service".
He added: "I understand it is routine."
Officers also interviewed a number of members of the public who witnessed the incident and recovered a number of items from the area, Bennett added.
"It was still a busy time of day so there were lots of staff and patients looking on," he said.
Farndon is described as white with a goatee beard, and was wearing a dark blue baseball cap and a light coloured jumper that was padded on the right side due to his injury.
The man with the gun is described as white, in his mid 40s, around 5ft 8ins tall and of stocky build. He possibly had a Scottish accent and was wearing a white top and blue jeans.
It is thought they may have escaped in a dark coloured car.
Justice Minister Crispin Blunt said there was no suggestion the incident was linked to the escape of Anslow from HMP Hewell earlier this week.
"Clearly we will be examining the circumstances behind this incident," he said.
"The most important thing at the moment is to get this man back in custody and to investigate the full facts of the case."
A Prison Service spokeswoman said a full Prison Service inquiry would follow.