Woman charged with assisting offender over Pentonville prison break

A woman has been charged with assisting an offender after an inmate who escaped from Pentonville prison was recaptured.

Kelly Baker, 21, of Ilford, east London, will appear at Highbury Corner Magistrates' Court on Friday.

She was arrested on Wednesday night as Matthew Baker, 28, was apprehended after three days on the run.

He escaped from the north London jail alongside James Whitlock, 31, who is still being sought by police.

A 33-year-old man who was also arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender has been released on bail.

Scotland Yard added that on Thursday officers arrested a second woman, aged 24, at an address in Bow, east London, on suspicion of assisting an offender.

She is currently in custody at an east London police station.

Scotland Yard launched a manhunt for Matthew Baker and Whitlock after their escape was discovered shortly before midday on Monday.

According to reports the cellmates' beds had been stuffed with pillows to make them look as though they were sleeping.

The pair are said to have used diamond-tipped cutting equipment to cut through bars before scaling a perimeter wall to freedom.

Baker was found guilty of attempted murder in October after stabbing a man during a dispute and was due to be sentenced on Friday.

Whitlock was on remand having been charged with conspiracy to burgle over 19 alleged ATM thefts.

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