Dangerous escaped prisoner Stephen Thomas Hudson has a number of distinctive tattoos that could be spotted by alert members of the public, say police.
Hudson, aged 32, has tattoos of swastikas, as well as cigarettes, mushrooms, a syringe, flowers and a skull on his lower arms.
"The public could possibly identify Hudson from these tattoos," Palmerston North Detective Sergeant Dave Clifford said yesterday.
Dark-haired Hudson also had an unusual face shape, with a "very pointed chin".
He and cellmate Michael Paul McKegg, 27, have been on the run since breaking out of Manawatu Prison at Linton, near Palmerston North, at the weekend.
Mr Clifford said McKegg was "nondescript", with a crewcut and hazel eyes.
Both escapers are Pakeha.
Police have followed up scores of "sightings" of the pair, including calls from Auckland and Wellington people claiming to have seen them hitchhiking.
Police said the pair had probably spilt up and could have headed for the South Island.
On Monday, police raided a rural property near Sanson, 24km northwest of Palmerston North, after a tip from the public. Neither escaper was there.
Hudson, formerly of Palmerston North, has contacts throughout the North Island, and may have access to guns.
He was due to stand trial in March on attempted murder charges after a stabbing last year.
Hudson and McKegg, from Ashhurst near Palmerston North, are believed to have escaped some time between roll call at 9.45pm on Saturday and 10am on Sunday morning, by cutting their way through the cell bars and using blankets to build a bridge over barbed wire fences.
- NZPA
Unusual tattoos may collar escaper say police
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