1981: Second killer escapes from Broadmoor

A double murderer has escaped from a hospital for the criminally insane - the second killer to do so in less than three weeks.

Alan Reeve, 32, escaped from Broadmoor Hospital in Berkshire by scaling an 18-foot inner wall using a grappling hook attached to a makeshift rope.

He managed to get over the outer wall by climbing up scaffolding.

His escape follows that of another Broadmoor patient, a child killer, who escaped recently using a rope of knotted sheets.

Reeve was sent to Broadmoor aged 15 for stabbing and clubbing to death a friend.

Four years later he strangled a fellow Broadmoor patient.

Release blocked

Police have set up road blocks in Berkshire, Surrey and Hampshire.

People have been warned not to approach Reeve who is described as six feet (1.83 metres) tall and 11 stone (70 kg) in weight.

He recently wrote to Home Secretary William Whitelaw protesting that Mr Whitelaw had blocked his release in spite of a favourable psychologist's report.

A police spokesman said it could be that Reeve - who they believe had outside assistance - had escaped to prove a point.

	E-mail this story to a friend