Crash-diet prisoner back in jail

SYDNEY - A prisoner who crash-dieted his way to freedom from Sydney's Long Bay jail will face court next week.

Robert Cole, 36, had been expected to appear in court at the weekend charged with escaping from custody, but a Corrective Services spokeswoman said he would not appear until next Monday.

Cole, recaptured after three days on the run, has been taken to a high security wing at Goulburn Prison, in southern NSW.

He escaped from the hospital at Long Bay last Wednesday after losing 14kg on a crash diet.

He chiselled a hole in the brickwork next to the bars of his cell and squeezed through.

- AAP