Newbury 'prisoners' conduct great escape

Newbury firefighter, Daniel Lawton, and his friend Richard Knight reached Cherbourg as part of a charity challenge

TWO 'jailbreakers' from Newbury Police Station have made it to France.

With no money, no food and no plans, Newbury firefighter Daniel Lawton and his friend Richard Knight 'escaped' from the station in Mill Lane on Friday on a charitable challenge to try and get as far away from the town as they could within 48 hours, to raise money for The Firefighters Charity and Help for Heroes.

By yesterday morning (Sunday), the pair, who are both aged 36 and from Didcot, had reached Cherbourg in France, travelling by car, minibus, boat and on foot, with a little help from a few strangers.

However, their journey was not without hitches.

On their final sailing journey from the Isle of Wight on Saturday, the 36ft boat which the pair were travelling on snagged a lobster pot line, forcing the skipper Adrian Norris to make his first ever Mayday call to the RNLI at Swanage.

Fortunately for them, the boat managed to break free from the net and the crew navigated their way through some challenging winds, narrowly avoiding some cargo ships to reach Cherbourg in France after an arduous 14-hour journey.

Mr Lawton said: “It was pretty nerve-wracking for a while, but we managed to get to France and I think we did pretty well without spending a penny.”

Mr Lawton praised everyone who had supported the pair on the challenge, reserving special thanks for the two men who helped get them to France, Mr Norris and David Mann.

Mr Lawton added: “They were unbelievable.

“We did not pay a thing and we ate like kings thanks to them.”

The pair are currently back in England and on their way to Oxford on a National Express bus from Portsmouth and Mr Lawton said he hoped they would reach home by about 2pm.

To donate to their cause, click on the link below.

For more on this story, see this week's Newbury Weekly News.