Brixton Prison IRA escape 1991 Brixton Prison IRA escape 1991 On the 7 July 1991 two Provisional IRA volunteers Pearse McAuley and his cellmate Nessan Quinlivan escaped from HM Prison Brixton using two hand guns smuggled into them and subduing a prison guard. It was one of the most serious IRA escapes from a prison since the 1983 Maze Prison escape During the Troubles, Irish republican prisoners had escaped from custody "en masse" on several occasions. On 17 November 1971, nine prisoners dubbed the "Crumlin Kangaroos" escaped from Crumlin Road Jail when rope ladders were thrown over the wall. Two prisoners were recaptured, but the
Brixton Prison IRA escape 1991 remaining seven managed to cross the border into the Republic of Ireland and appeared at a press conference in Dublin. On 17 January 1972, seven internees escaped from the prison ship HMS "Maidstone" by swimming to freedom, resulting in them being dubbed the "Magnificent Seven". On 31 October 1973, three leading IRA members, including former Chief of Staff Seamus Twomey, escaped from Mountjoy Prison in Dublin when a hijacked helicopter landed in the exercise yard of the prison. Irish band The Wolfe Tones wrote a song celebrating the escape called "The Helicopter Song", which topped the Irish popular music charts.