Prisoner boasts on Facebook that he would escape - then DOES!

  • Status update: 'getting out sooner than yas think boys'
  • Public warned not to approach violent escapees

By RICHARD SHEARS
Updated:

Prison officials have been left red faced after an inmate boasted on Facebook that he would be escaping soon - then did just that.

Earlier this month a Facebook page in the name of 19-year-old prisoner Kyle Leslie Lynch read: 'Is getting out sooner than yas think boys. It's gonna be on!'

And while prisoners are not allowed to use Facebook from inside Tasmania's Ron Barwick Minimum Security Jail, officials admitted Lynch might have used a smuggled smartphone to get onto the social network - or had used an outside contact to post the boast.

Kyle Leslie Lynch, 19, who were inmates at the Ron Barwick Minimum Security Prison, Tasmania.
TASMANIA Police are looking for prisoner James Peter Sampson, 22, who is on the run from Ron Barwick Minimum Security Prison, Tasmania.

Fugitives: Kyle Leslie Lynch, left, boasted of his planned escape before fleeing with James Sampson, right

Incredibly, Lynch - or at least someone posting a message on his behalf from the outside - even claimed that his status had changed from 'single' to 'in a relationship'.

He and 22-year-old James Sampson escaped from the prison together, resulting in a statewide hunt.

Both men were serving about two years - Lynch for causing grievous bodily harm and Sampson for robbery.

The Ron Barwick Minimum Security Prison at Risdon Vale in Tasmania, from which Kyle Leslie Lynch and James Peter Sampson escaped

The Ron Barwick Minimum Security Prison at Risdon Vale in Tasmania, from which Kyle Leslie Lynch and James Peter Sampson escaped

Corrective Services acting director Greg Partridge said the two men were noticed missing at the regular muster at 6.45pm on Saturday.

They were considered to be of low risk of escape but an investigation was under way last night to find out how two prisoners described as violent had managed to get away - particularly after one had boasted about planning an escape.

Police southern duty inspector George Cretu said people should not approach the runaways, although they were not considered a particular danger.

'We ask that no-one approaches them. They do have a history of violence though there is no obvious or definite threat to the community,' he told Hobart's The Mercury newspaper. 

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