Escaped prisoner fooled staff with pumpkin in bed

An escaped prisoner fooled staff into thinking he was asleep by putting a pumpkin and a boiler suit stuffed with clothes in his bed.

Aaron Wood spent two days on the run after absconding from North Sea Camp near Boston on 22 September.

He was caught with a knife in Skegness, where he claimed to be doing a charity walk.

The 54-year-old, who was given life in 1998 for murdering a 40-year-old woman, admitted making a "crow man" decoy and pleaded guilty at Lincoln Crown Court on Monday to escaping custody and carrying a bladed article.

The court heard Wood was reported missing by his cellmate just before 08:00 BST on 23 September.

Phil Howes, prosecuting, described North Sea Camp as an "open establishment" where inmates were "trusted not to leave".

"Wood hid his disappearance by stuffing a boiler suit full of clothing and using a pumpkin as a head," he said.

"This was enough to fool a check at 01:15 BST when a member of prison staff looked through the cell window."

Wood was located nearly 50 miles (80km) from the prison in the village of South Somercotes at about 18:00 on 24 September.

Police were made aware of his whereabouts when a family member told them they had let him stay overnight in their caravan.

The court heard Wood had 29 other previous convictions for 110 offences over a 17-year period.

They included two previous escapes, nine house burglaries, three bladed weapon offences, grievous bodily harm and assault causing actual bodily harm.

Michael Cranmer-Brown, mitigating, said Wood had "severe mental health anxieties" and "thought he was never going to get out".

Wood has now been returned to stricter prison conditions and faces a minimum wait of 20 months before he can go before a Parole Board.

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