Killer Richard Hanson sentenced for Thorn Cross prison escape

Richard Hanson was jailed for life back in 2007 for killing a teenager by slashing her throat with a broken bottle.

He admitted the manslaughter of Gemma Roberts, 18, on grounds of diminished responsibility when he appeared before Leeds Crown Court that year.

At the time, prosecutor James Goss said Hanson, who had displayed psychotic behaviour since he was aged three, attacked Gemma, a total stranger to him, as he walked past her in Liversedge in West Yorkshire.

Judge Peter Collier described him as a ‘very dangerous young man’ who ‘randomly and brutally robbed her of her life’ and ‘devastated the lives of her family’.

Having received his manslaughter conviction, the now 35-year-old found himself at HM Prison Thorn Cross in Appleton Thorn in August, prosecutor Peter Hussey told Chester Crown Court yesterday afternoon, Wednesday.

A decision was made for him to be transferred to a more secure facility following a risk assessment, and on August 27 he was brought to the prison reception area.

A short time later, it was discovered that he had absconded. Staff checked the rear of a workshop area and CCTV footage showed that Hanson had fled by scaling a perimeter wall.

An arrest warrant was issued and a public appeal for information was made, warning residents not to approach him and to call 999 immediately.

Richard Hanson absconded from HM Prison Thorn Cross in Appleton Thorn

He was eventually located three days later on August 30 by officers from Cheshire Police's serious and organised crime unit, who found him hiding under a HGV trailer on a farm in an area north of Oldham, 1km away from the M62.

Mr Hussey said of Hanson, previously of Heckmondwike in West Yorkshire: “He was clearly heading in the direction of his hometown.”

Following his arrest, the defendant offered no comment during his police interview and gave no explanation for absconding.

He was subsequently charged with escaping from lawful custody.

Mr Hussey explained that the manslaughter conviction was one of 16 previously received by Hanson for 44 offences, most of which took place in West Yorkshire dating back to the late 1990s.

Two of these previous convictions were for escaping lawful custody, in 1999 and 2001.

Mark Brookes, defending, asked the court to give his client his entitled full credit for his guilty plea and spoke of how Hanson escaped to see a family member, who was not well and whom the defendant has not seen for several years, who lives at the farm he was found at.

He also explained that because the defendant is already serving an indeterminate sentence, any further sentence passed must be concurrent – running at the same time as his current sentence.

An indeterminate prison sentence does not have a fixed length of time, with no date set when the person will be released.

Richard Hanson was jailed at Chester Crown Court

The Parole Board is responsible for deciding if someone can be released from prison, and such sentences are given if a court thinks an offender is a danger to the public.

Before sentencing, judge Patrick Thompson said: “This is the third time you have effectively escaped from secure conditions, although I accept the others were from a long time ago in 1999 and 2001.

“I have taken into account everything that has been advanced on your behalf.

“This is not a case of professional criminal assistance, but it is more serious than just walking out.”

Hanson was sentenced to 16 months imprisonment.

Following news of his escape in August, speaking to the Warrington Guardian’s sister paper, the Bradford Telegraph and Argus, Gemma’s sister Leanne Roberts said: “I felt sick, sick to my stomach. It’s like a kick in the teeth.”

The family feared that Hanson could be in the area, prompting them to have new alarms fitted, and Leanne said the family was not made aware he was in an open prison.

She said: “It’s just brought everything back, everything is really fresh. It's made it feel as if it's yesterday.”