20 Dec 2009

Door-knocking search for escaped prisoner

12:59 pm on 20 December 2009

The police are door-knocking the addresses of former friends and associates of Kevin James Polwart, who escaped from Auckland Prison on Wednesday and hasn't been seen since.

Polwart, who was serving a sentence for armed robbery, cut through two perimeter fences to break out of the prison at Paremoremo, leaving behind a picture of a rabbit and the words "Catch me if you can" scrawled on a wall.

Detective Senior Sergeant Kim Libby says there have been no confirmed sightings of the 49-year-old but he is known to have ties in the Wellington area and up north.

The police are appealing to anyone who knows where he is to contact police. Anyone found to be helping him evade arrest will face serious criminal charges.

Eight years ago Polwart broke out of Rimutaka prison, near Wellington, using the same means, and was at large for 41 days.