Duddy and Roberts got back into the van and Witney reversed rapidly down a side street and pulled out onto Wulfstan Street before driving away at speed. However, a passer-by, suspicious of a car driving so fast near the prison, had written down the registration plate. Witney, the van's owner, was arrested at his home six hours after the incident. Following a tip-off, the van was discovered the next day in a lock-up garage rented by Witney under a railway bridge in Vauxhall. It contained some spent .38 cartridges and equipment that could be used for stealing cars. Initially Witney claimed that he had sold the van for £15 to an unknown man in a pub earlier in the day, but confessed on 14 August, admitting what had happened, and naming his accomplices.