Escaped prisoner captured

A man accused of racially motivated assaults who escaped after armed men held up a prison van in which he was being taken to court, was recaptured on Friday after four days on the run.

Wayne Connor was arrested in a hotel room in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, shortly after midnight, London police said. He is now being questioned.

The 20-year-old escaped from on Monday after two men armed with a shotgun held up a Serco security van shortly after it left Feltham Young Offenders Institute in west London en route to Woolwich Crown Court.

The men, wearing balaclavas, threatened the van's driver and a colleague demanded Connor's release. Police said the suspects were still at large.

Connor had been due to attend a hearing later on Monday accused of two counts of racially aggravated actual bodily harm, aggravated burglary and burglary.