Prisoners were Boys

112. Prisoners were Boys

Walton Jail-Liverpool

We must have been approaching no more than fifteen or sixteen as we were still getting around on foot instead of on our scooters. Ali, Mick Bay and I had bought light-coloured jackets from Crowe’s, the army surplus shop in Newbury.  I drew on the back of them a series of arrowheads and inscribed the words “Walton Jail”.   One day when it started to rain we sought shelter in an open-style hay barn and climbed up to the top of it. After a short while, an old farm hand  climbed up the ladder and was surprised to find us. On seeing us, he wildly took flight, much to our astonishment.

That night, while watching the local news, South at Six, I heard that three escaped convicts had been seen earlier in the day in the Sanham Green area and that the police had mounted a roadblock and a helicopter search was underway to find them. The farm hand was interviewed ,for the TV and he said, in a broad Berkshire accent, “They looked like they were dangerous and seeing that they were a lot younger than I, I had to take care of myself. Being a public minded person I hot-footed it out of danger, and phoned the police".

After I had watched the news item, I told my dad and he walked up about six houses away to tell the police sergeant what had happened. It must have been quite embarrassing for Sergeant Bob, since he was Mick Bay’s dad!

The headline in that week’s Newbury Weekly News read “Prisoners were Boys”. It was ironic that three real prisoners were actually on the run from Walton Jail. Apparently they had been playing an away game for the prison football team and made their escape. How the police thought that they could make a journey from Liverpool to the Hungerford area still remains a mystery!