Jail-breaking 'Houdini' caught again

Aaron Forden. Photo / supplied

The serial prison escaper known as "Houdini" was last night back behind bars after spending a week on the run.

Aaron Stephen Forden, 30, is the first person to break out of the new $218 million Mt Eden Corrections Facility.

The escape last week was his fourth from a prison - a feat that has earned him the nickname "Houdini" - including one in 2008 when he climbed down the stone walls of the old Mt Eden jail with a rope made of knotted sheets.

Last night, police caught Forden at Silverdale, north of Auckland, "without incident", said Inspector Andrew Coster.

He will appear in the Auckland District Court this morning on a charge of escaping lawful custody.

Forden has short ginger hair and a goatee beard, but is known to change his appearance to evade detection.

Following last week's escape, police asked hairdressers to be alert for a man seeking a dye job.

Forden pulled off his infamous 2008 escape by crawling through roof cavities to a tower and using the knotted-together sheets to lower himself over barbed wire.

After three days, he was captured following a dramatic high-speed police pursuit, when he crashed a stolen car into stationary vehicles.

In March this year, Forden was a free man again but was being chased for breaching a warrant. He was finally arrested after a two-month crime spree.

In June, Forden appeared in Whangarei District Court on violence and dishonesty charges following his arrest and was in a secure interview room with his lawyer.

After about half an hour, the lawyer called guards to let them know the interview had finished and then left his client alone.

Forden allegedly forced a bar from the grille separating his area from the lawyer's room and then escaped.

He was on the run for more than four months before police caught him again.