Violent robber breaks out of British private prison run by same company operating Christmas Island detention centre

A violent robber has reportedly managed to escape from a high-security British prison run by the same outsourcing company that operates the Christmas Island immigration detention centre.

The 26-year-old, Haroon Ahmed, managed to escape HMP Dovegate in Staffordshire, in England’s West Midlands region, on Wednesday night by slipping away unnoticed as part of a group of visitors, according to The Independent.

He had been serving a sentence for armed robbery since 2008 and was being held in the privately run prison, which is home to almost 1000 male inmates considered unlikely to try and escape.

The Independent has cited a source within Serco as claiming the prison is understaffed, with entire wings occasionally left unguarded due to low staffing levels.

Serco, which is a British outsourcing company, has run the prison since 2001 and is best known in Australia for running Australian immigration detention centres on Christmas Island.