Escaped prisoner Shaun Walmsley admits jailbreak

Shaun Walmsley was serving a life sentence for murder when he escaped

A convicted murderer who faked illness to be sprung from jail during a hospital visit has been given a further eight-year sentence.

Shaun Walmsley, 29, plotted his escape from HMP Liverpool by losing weight and feigning bowel problems, a court heard.

He went on the run when two armed men threatened prison officers who had escorted him to hospital.

At Liverpool Crown Court, Walmsley admitted a single charge of escaping lawful custody.

He was already serving a 30-year tariff for murder when he underwent a minor endoscopy at Aintree University Hospital in February 2017, the court heard.

'Good job boys!'

After the procedure, his accomplices, armed with an Uzi submachine gun and a knife, ambushed a private hire taxi used to transport Walmsley from prison.

They threatened to "cut" the escorting officers if they failed to release Walmsley from his handcuffs.

After spending 18 months on the run, Walmsley was traced to the Harehills area of Leeds, where armed police repeatedly tasered him and dragged him out of a car.

After he was arrested, he told the officers "Good job boys!", the court heard.

Henry Riding, prosecuting, told the court information from the hospital indicated Walmsley "had no condition of any kind".

"There's every reason to suppose his 'condition' was effectively a sham," he added.

Sentencing, Recorder of Liverpool, Judge Clement Goldstone QC told Walmsley: "I have no doubt over the months you began to think by a combination of disguise, re-location and friends in low places you had become above the law and would remain at large indefinitely."

But police "had other ideas", the judge said.

Police previously issued CCTV images showing the scene of Walmsley's escape

The judge also told Walmsley the eight-year sentence would be served after his current term - eligible for review in June 2047 - ends.

He was sentenced in June 2015 for his involvement in the murder of rival drug dealer Anthony Duffy in 2014.

Mr Duffy, 33, was lured to an address in Aintree in May 2014 and "repeatedly stabbed".