Overview
- Chelmsford Crown Court jailed Junead Ahmed for three years and three months for orchestrating the scheme, with document forger Aaryan Noor Ali given two years and two months.
- Judges imposed suspended terms for Nazash Akhtar, Charlotte Whittaker and Adam Mohamed, while Charlie Whittaker is due to be sentenced on December 16.
- The plot used an email pretending to be from the Royal Courts of Justice that fooled HMP Chelmsford into releasing Ahmed on June 21, 2023.
- Prosecutors said the attachment carried Ahmed’s case details and a phone number for the prison, and it came from an address ending .org rather than .gov.
- Ahmed was at large for about 43 hours before police found him hiding in a loft, after further fake orders for two other prisoners were flagged as bogus.