Machete thug goes on the run after being allowed out of jail to visit mosque

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EXCLUSIVE: Machete thug goes on the run after being allowed out of jail to visit mosque accompanied by prison officer but ‘got lost in the crowd’ – just two years into his eight-year sentence

  • Mohammed Waqas attacked a man’s car with a machete and a baseball bat
  • Was jailed for seven years and ten months in 2019 after the attack in Tipton
  • Waqas attended mother’s funeral at Zia-UL-Quran mosque in Saltley yesterday
  • MoD source told MailOnline that Waqas was accompanied by a prison officer 
  • But he became ‘lost in a crowd’ and ‘ended up not returning’ to prison

By Jemma Carr For Mailonline

Published: | Updated:

Mohammed Waqas was jailed for eight years in 2019 for attacking a man’s car with a machete and a baseball bat outside a petrol station

A machete thug has gone on the run after ‘getting lost in a crowd’ while on compassionate leave from prison to visit a mosque. 

Mohammed Waqas was jailed for seven years and ten months in 2019 for attacking a man’s car with a machete and a baseball bat outside a petrol station in Tipton, in the West Midlands.

Waqas was allowed out on compassionate leave to attend his mother’s funeral at the Zia-UL-Quran mosque in Saltley, Birmingham, yesterday.

Ministry of Defense source told MailOnline that while Waqas was accompanied by a prison officer he became ‘lost in a crowd’ and ‘ended up not returning’ to prison at the end of the day.

In 2019, Waqas was plead guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent, breaching an anti-social behaviour order and driving without a licence or insurance.

He was sentenced to seven years and 10 months in prison on January 9 – but was released on temporary license and moved to HMP Sudbury – an open prison in Derbyshire. 

West Midlands police have launched a man hunt.

A Prison Service spokesperson told MailOnline: ‘Absconds are extremely rare and those who do so face tough consequences, including being returned to closed prison conditions where they may have to serve additional time.’

‘The number of absconds has almost halved over the last ten years and have fallen by more than half at HMP Sudbury since 2016.’