Woman harboured escaped prisoner

AN Oldham mum who harboured a prisoner on the run narrowly escaped jail.

Police forced their way into Toni Shipman’s Drake Close, Oldham home in July after being tipped-off that Philip Stephenson was inside.

Stephenson (33) and fellow prisoner Gareth Robinson had escaped from Kirkham Prison in Lancashire three days earlier.

Manchester Crown Court was told officers knocked on Shipman’s door and used a ram to get in when no one answered. As they rushed in Stephenson shouted: “It’s me.”

Stephenson, serving five years for firearm offences, had been in the house for a little over an hour.

Ms Shipman (24), a friend for several years, admitted she knew he was on the run but said he had told her he was going to give himself up next day.

Judge Robert Brown told Shipman he would spare her prison, sentencing her to a six-month community order and a £60 victims surcharge.