Gardai are on the hunt for a dangerous criminal who escaped from custody yesterday afternoon.
Lee McDonnell made a run for it after his prison van stopped for some food in Inchicore on its way back to Portlaoise prison.
It’s understood he was being driven back to jail after being brought to Dublin for a hospital appointment.
Just after lunchtime McDonnell had somehow got out of his handcuffs and when the doors opened, he pounced on the prison officers and made his escape.
The 22-year-old is considered a dangerous and violent criminal who has over 100 convictions, the most recent of which were for savagely beating a man during a burglary in Ballyfermot and for breaking into a house in Lucan.
He was supposed to appear before the Court of Appeal today where the DPP was due to apply for a tougher sentence to be imposed.
Instead gardai spent the night looking for him and an investigation into how he escaped from the prison van is also underway.
