by Police have arrested a prisoner who escaped from Goulburn jail earlier today.
Key points:
- Ryan Wennekes, 29, was participating in work activities when he went missing from the jail
- Police are searching Goulburn to relocate him
- NSW Corrective Services said he escaped from their minimum security section
At about 1:30pm, Ryan Wennekes, 29, escaped an area of the minimum security section of the correctional facility where inmates participate in work activities.
He was arrested by officers from The Hume police district while waiting for a train at Goulburn Railway Station and has been taken to the local police station.
Locals can sleep easier tonight
The community was on high alert as news spread of the jail break.
Wennekes escaped a minimum security part of Goulburn jail.(ABC News: Mark Moore
)
Kylie McCauley, who lives about 2 kilometres from the jail, said she saw police searching by foot and by air for hours after the escape was discovered.
“The helicopter started flying over and it was really, really low and I thought, ‘oh no, what’s going on?'” she said.
She then watched as patrol cars made their way up the walking track outside her house, combing bushland.
“A police officer went into my neighbour’s yard and started looking around there because there’s lots of little hidey holes, and then they went up and down the fence-line having a look under shrubs,” she said.
“I’ve only been here for three years so I haven’t seen anything like this before.
“But it was really good to see all the police out and about.”
One parent, whose children go to a nearby school, earlier told the ABC the campus was locked down when the alarm was raised and parents were asked to collect their children early.
