Police nab arsonist dwarf after taxi bid for freedom

A Hamilton dwarf's bid to escape custody ended yesterday when police swooped on the taxi he was using as a getaway car.

Intellectually impaired Shane Reid is serving a 2 1/2 year sentence in a secure facility under the Intellectual Disability Compulsory Care and Rehabilitation Act.

Reid, 27, was found guilty last May of lighting fires in March last year at Cambridge High School and Forest Lake Primary School in Hamilton. He escaped from the secure facility in Cambridge about 5.30am yesterday.

Cambridge police senior sergeant Gordon Grantham said police immediately sent out a release searching for him.

Mr Grantham said police were concerned about his fascination for fire and the emergency services, because the fires he lit caused $415,000 damage.

Reid managed to hitch-hike to Te Awamutu before calling a taxi from the Te Awamutu Information Centre and heading for Hamilton.

Mr Grantham said the person who picked Reid up in Cambridge realised he was on the run when he heard a radio report, and called police after dropping him at the information centre.
Police tracked the taxi to Dinsdale in Hamilton and two police cars, a dog handler and incident car pulled over the female taxi driver with Reid in the passenger seat about 11.30am.

"She was pretty surprised because she just thought she had a fee-paying passenger," Mr Grantham said. "She had no idea until she was stopped."

Reid went with the police without a struggle.

Under the terms of his detention he cannot be charged with escaping.