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Baird ‘gobsmacked’ over NSW prisoner’s escape

New South Wales Premier Mike Baird says it is not good enough that a prisoner could get around Goulburn prison security using a mop, a pillow and a bed sheet.

Up to 20 police officers and the dog squad were involved in Tuesday night’s search for 28-year-old Stephen Jamieson, who is serving time in the maximum security facility in Goulburn for armed robbery.

Jamieson escaped after cutting through a metal gate at the back of a small secure exercise yard and using a range of bed sheets, tied together, to scale a barbed wire fence.

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He was later arrested and charged after allegedly stealing a ute and leading police on a high-speed pursuit.

Superintendent Zoran Dezevlan said about 10:30pm police were notified a ute had been stolen from a rural property at Carrick, a small township about 10 kilometres north of Goulburn.

“The owner heard the car leave the rural property and immediately rang police,” he said.

Jamieson was then spotted driving the ute on the Hume Highway at Marulan, east of Goulburn about 10:50pm

He lead police on a 80-kilometre high-speed pursuit for 40 minutes before officers used road spikes to stop the ute just before Picton Road near Marulan.

Jamieson allegedly then tried to flee, but was arrested almost immediately, police said.

Premier Baird said he was “gobsmacked” when he heard of the escape.

“It’s totally unacceptable and I think, like every member of the community, when I saw that I was gobsmacked and we need to ensure that it doesn’t happen again,” Mr Baird said.

“It is being investigated, as it should be, and I’ve spoken to the Minister this morning.”

Jamieson’s escape has prompted Corrective Services NSW to order a review of security arrangements in the prison’s maximum security section.

Corrective Services commissioner Peter Severin said the review, to be conducted by a New Zealand department of corrections security expert, will begin next Monday.

Mr Baird said it had been about 20 years since the last escape from Goulburn prison.

“But obviously, that’s not good enough and what we saw was not good enough and it can’t happen again,” he said.

Earlier this month, Justice Minister David Elliot downplayed another breakout attempt when the beginning of an escape tunnel was found in the floor of a prison workshop.

Mr Baird would not say if he thought authorities failed to take the earlier incident seriously enough.

“It’s not up to me to comment on individual cases,” he said.

“There’s a general principle that our jails should obviously be safe in the sense that prisoners can’t escape and that’s a principle that we need to ensure happens on a daily basis.

“If we can learn from this case we will.”

Superintendent Dezevlan praised the efforts of officers involved in the pursuit and arrest.

“It [was] very important to apprehend him as soon as we [could] … the sooner we had him off our streets, the better for the community of NSW,” he said.

“I don’t count luck, it was good police work. We caught him as soon as we could. No members of the public were hurt, no police officers were hurt and the offender himself wasn’t hurt.”

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