We live next to a prison – escaped criminals run through our gardens but we still love our neighbourhood | The Sun

RESIDENTS who live next to a prison say they still love the neighbourhood even though escaped criminals have ran through their gardens.

Locals living on the surrounding streets of the notorious HMP Pentonville have got used to living next to some of London's most dangerous inmates.

A Victorian relic built in 1842, the prison has seen it's fair share of breakouts over the years with some lags doing a runner just years ago.

In 2016, Matthew Baker and James Whitlock escaped after cutting through their cell bars, climbing over a roof, and swinging down a CCTV pole with a bedsheet.

After a manhunt lasting six days both had been tracked down and returned to jail.

Pentonville houses a whopping 1,200 criminals and some residents even remember escaped prisoners in their garden.

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Cathy Embling, 74, who lives on a nearby road, remembered how a convict raced through her back garden chased by cops.

She said: "We have had police jumping in our gardens over the years, looking for people. That was 20 years ago.

"They would ring on my bell and say 'Keep your dog inside'. They wanted to leave all the Alsatians in my garden because he had done 20 houses already.

"They told me a prisoner had jumped in my back garden and there were police coming over the walls."

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And the intimidating prison nearby has actually become a boon to local business owners.

Their doors are often the first port of call for free men who want to speak to their family, get a haircut, or eat a proper meal.

A trip to Oli's for some Fish and Chip's can be an attractive proposition for ex-cons to tuck into one of the best meal's they've had in years.

Owner Oz Toksoylu, 47, said: "The last guy came in here and I gave him my phone. He called his dad but he said he was far away and couldn't come. His mum said yes and then sent him an Uber.

"There was another guy who had money and he bought some food for his kids, he picked up the fish and chips and then went.

"Most of them seem happy and like they do not want to go in there again."

Barber Dzhengis Ibryam, 20, of Sam's Barbers, said you know someone has just got out because they carry a bin bag full of their worldly belongings.

"Sometimes they ask for a phone call," he explained.

"Then they call their family to pick them up. Last time a guy came and I did his haircut then three of his family turned up and they hugged."

Dzenghis thinks he gets a prisoner once every two months and he has never had a problem, even though most turn up without any cash.

Last time a guy came and I did his haircut then three of his family turned up and they hugged."

He revealed the conversations are the usual barber chat, except they start with "I just got out".

He added: "They either have long hair or it's really short, sometimes the haircuts are not properly done because they aren't allowed scissors. It can be a bit messy and we need to fix it."

One establishment has leant into the handy location just metres from the main entrance to the prison.

The Breakout looks like a standard builder's café, but go inside and you are almost certainly dining with recently freed convicts, visiting families, and prison officers.

FINDING FREEDOM

Despite the eclectic mix, café boss Steve Liasi, 59, insists there's never been any trouble, only "dirty looks".

He gave the café it's name when he first opened and relies on the constant traffic of visitors, many of whom he gets to know and who then bring their loved one's to eat on their first day of freedom.

He said: "Everyone has a very different experience, some have a hard time and do not forget, others are hard core and they are in and out constantly.

"We meet visitors who will come for the best part of two years, and some people travel far distances."

He also revealed the late Amy Winehouse would come and eat at the café when visiting her boyfriend Blake Fielder-Civil who was given 27 months in 2007 for a bar fight, and then trying to hush the victim with £400,000.

Steve recalled: "The paparazzi were all outside, it was crazy."

While life carries on without much thought outside the prison walls, inside Pentonville disrepair and staffing levels continue to bring standards into question.

Though inspectors have praised its progress in recent years, the latest report was still scathing.

The prison has a high-rate of illegal drug use, has seen seven suicides since 2019, and cells designed for one person are used to house two.

Pentonville also hit the headlines in 2012 when convicted murderer John Massey escaped to visit his dying mum after being denied compassionate leave.

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The UK's longest serving inmate reportedly climbed the prison wall using a homemade rope after hiding in the prison gym.

He was captured in Kent a few days later and returned to finish his stint for shooting a Hackney doorman dead in 1975.

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