Killer who murdered woman escapes prison by using pumpkin and boiler suit to fool guards

Aaron Wood, 54, fooled prison staff into thinking he was sleeping in his cell by stuffing a boiler suit with clothes and using a pumpkin for a head, before he was later recaptured

A convicted murderer escaped jail by fooling prison staff into thinking he was sleeping by stuffing a boiler suit with clothes and using a pumpkin for a head.

Aaron Wood, 54, absconded from North Sea Camp, near Boston, last month. The ruse was enough to fool a guard walking past his cell at 1.15am and he was reported missing by his cellmate the next day.

He remained on the run for two days before he was found nearly 50 miles from the prison in the village of South Somercotes at around 6pm on September 24, with a knife. Wood was serving a life sentence passed in 1998 for the murder of a 40-year-old woman and was moved to the open prison a month before he vanished, LincolnshireLive reported.

Phil Howes, prosecuting, told Lincoln Crown Court: "It is an open establishment, there are no boundaries, no borders. Inmates are trusted not to leave. But, leave he did."

"Wood hid his disappearance by stuffing a boiler suit full of clothing and using a pumpkin as a head. This was enough to fool a check at 1.15am when a member of prison staff looked through the cell window.”

Wood pleaded guilty to escaping from custody on September 22 and possessing a bladed article on September 24. The court heard Wood had 29 previous convictions for 110 offences over a 17 year period, including two previous escapes, nine house burglaries, three bladed weapon offences, grievous bodily harm and assault causing actual bodily harm.

The court heard Wood was sentenced to a minimum term of 16 years imprisonment when he received a life sentence at Worcester Crown Court in November 1998 for the murder of a 40-year-old woman. During his police interview Wood admitted making the "crow man" to fool prison staff and said he was walking to Whitby where he believed his mother had last been living.

Michael Cranmer-Brown, mitigating, said Wood had severe mental health anxieties at the time of his escape and had become frustrated after spending over a decade in prison longer than his minimum term sentence. Mr Cranmer-Brown said Wood met members of the public during his journey along the Lincolnshire coast but offered no threat and falsely claimed he was on a charity walk.

The court heard Wood has now been returned to stricter prison conditions and faces a wait of at least 20 months before he can go before a Parole Board.

Judge Simon Hirst told Wood he had to pass a sentence of eight months imprisonment on him for the two offences. Judge Hirst said the reality was that under the terms of his life sentence Wood would never be released from custody until he satisfied a Parole Board.

He added: “An escape and having a knife will not impress them.”