KEY POINTS:
A prisoner who escaped after locking a police officer in a cell at Blenheim Police Station has spurred a review of police procedures.
Police said that 24-year-old Mark Hulme, was brought to Blenheim from Christchurch Prison to face charges including aggravated burglary, reckless driving and another attempted escape from custody.
While locked in a cell he smashed a perspex window covering, using a piece of it to threaten the officer when he came in to take Hulme to the shower.
He locked the officer in the cell then calmly walked out the front door of the station, to a nearby store where he took a pair of scissors and pliers and tried to use them to steal a getaway vehicle.
But in the meantime the locked-up officer used his cellphone to call the front desk and tell them Hulme had escaped.
Hulme was recaptured about 15 minutes of freedom.
Later that day, he admitted 32 charges in the Blenheim District Court, including unlawfully detaining an officer and remanded.
Police said that the Police Complaints Authority had been notified of the escape and a review of the Blenheim police's procedures was expected to take some weeks.
- NZPA
