Jail for man in John Anslow escape
A man who helped Black Country drug lord John Anslow escape from custody has been jailed for more than two-and-a-half years.
Daniel Morgan was part of the team which assisted Anslow, of Tipton, when he was violently sprung from a prison van outside HMP Hewell near Redditch.
Anslow became Britain's most wanted man and fled to Cyprus. An international manhunt ensued and it was more than a year before he returned to the UK.
Morgan, of Parkeston Crescent in Birmingham, originally stood trial with five other people at Woolwich Crown Court last year for conspiracy to escape.
Two were found guilty and three were acquitted but, in Morgan's case, the jury failed to reach a verdict and a retrial was ordered for him alone.
The retrial had been due to start this week but Morgan pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of assisting in Anslow's escape. At Woolwich Crown Court, Morgan was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison.
The 30-year-old was returned to prison, as he had not been given bail at the conclusion of last year's trial, and has just nine months left of his sentence to serve. Anslow's dramatic escape in January 2012 sparked major security reviews and saw police scour Europe to track him down.
Anslow was en route to Stafford Crown Court when men armed with sledgehammers and a shotgun smashed into the prison van outside HMP Hewell.
Just an hour before he escaped, prison officers missed a chance to spot a mobile phone being concealed by Anslow. He then used the phone to tell his assailants which prison van he was being escorted to court in. He was driven to Birmingham at speeds of 100mph and then to Liverpool, and was not returned to the UK until he was arrested on immigration offences in Cyprus in March, 2013.
The Prison Service sacked one member of staff following an investigation into the escape and launched disciplinary action against a handful of others.
Anslow pleaded guilty to conspiracy to escape last year and was sentenced to seven years and two months in prison. This was added to a 22-year sentence for conspiracy to supply cocaine and cannabis.
Last month the Express & Star reported on Anslow's lavish lifestyle. His drug network stretched across the globe and he spent £36,000 sponsoring Wolves matches and splashed thousands of pounds on holidays.
