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Repeat escaper Arthur William Taylor was today sentenced to four years in prison for his most recent bid for freedom.
The term imposed in the High Court at Auckland has a minimum non-parole period of two years and is cumulative to the eight years he is already serving for drug and firearm offences.
He was also handed a concurrent prison term of one year for his part in the kidnapping of three prison guards.
Security was tight for Taylor's sentencing by Justice Ronald Young, with about half a dozen police and court security personnel in and outside the courtroom.
When Taylor, 51, appeared in the dock, he was handcuffed to two prison guards who stood on either side of him.
In September, a Wellington jury found Taylor guilty of escaping and helping gunman Manu Royal kidnap the prison guards, who were escorting Taylor to a family group conference in central Wellington in March 2005.
The jury was told Taylor handcuffed two of the guards together before fleeing.
He climbed though a roof space in a nearby building, but fell through the ceiling, landing on a woman in a toilet below. He was arrested in a car park about an hour later.
The court was told today that Taylor had spend 32 of the past 35 years in prison. He had previously escaped twice from prison and four times from lawful custody.
- NZPA
