Briton held in Benidorm over Salford prison van raid

A man who allegedly helped break two prisoners out of a custody van in an armed raid in Salford has been arrested on the terrace of a cafeteria in Benidorm.

Paul Taylor, 24, was arrested by Spanish police in connection with the audacious breakout in Greater Manchester in April last year. During the escape, three armed men broke prisoners Ryan MacDonald and Stevie McMullen free from a custody van en route from HMP Altcourse to Manchester crown court.

Taylor and two other British citizens – Lee Baker, from Southampton, and Zachary Williams, from Liverpool – were arrested allegedly in possession of a car and motorbike stolen in the UK and fake paperwork, four mobile phones and €4,435 (£3,700) in cash.

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Baker, 32, and Williams, 20, were living in La Nucia in Alicante, on Spain’s south-east coast, while Taylor had no fixed abode, police said.

MacDonald and McMullen, 20 and 31 at the time, were both caught by police in May last year and returned to prison.

The pair were sprung from the prison van in an ambush on Salford’s A57 Regent Road. They were freed by three men, one brandishing a shotgun, who arrived in a dark Saab car and smashed the driver- and passenger-side windows of the GEOAmey prison transport vehicle.

The guards were left “very shaken” but uninjured after the morning rush-hour incident, police said afterwards.

Three of the men ran off to the Ordsall estate after abandoning the Saab, while the other two got on a motorcycle later found abandoned in Salford Quays. Greater Manchester police launched a manhunt, describing the escaped men as a “risk to the community”.

McMullen was standing trial accused of a kidnap, conspiracy to commit robbery, conspiracy to commit arson and possession of a firearm. MacDonald was due to be sentenced for conspiracy to commit robbery.

Police caught McMullen on 5 May while he was travelling in a car with two other men on the A6 near Lancaster University. MacDonald was arrested on 10 May in a raid by armed officers at a house in Ordsall, Salford.

Spanish police said Taylor was arrested on a European arrest warrant on suspicion of aiding a prison escape and unlawful possession of weapons. Greater Manchester police said Taylor would be extradited to the UK.

via Briton held in Benidorm over Salford prison van raid | UK | The Guardian.

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