Escaped prisoner arrested at bar in Belfast city centre after he stabbed himself in the stomach

A wanted prisoner stabbed himself in the stomach when police approached sitting outside a Belfast pub sipping on a pint of lager.

Derek Brock, 53, is currently undergoing treatment at the Royal Victoria Hospital in west Belfast after he was Tasered and then captured outside the Bridge Bar in Bedford Street on Wednesday evening around 7.30 pm.

Brockwell, from Glasgow, escaped from police custody at Tallaght Hospital in Dublin on Tuesday.

He got away on a motorbike driven by an accomplice.

Supt Darrin Jones said: “On police approaching (Brockwell), he produced a knife and proceeded to stab himself in the abdomen.

“To ensure no further injuries were caused to the man or other, police discharged a Taser.”

The Police Ombudsman has been informed.

Brockwell was arrested on suspicion of two counts of robbery and two counts of possessing an offensive weapon.

He was taken to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast. A spokeswoman for the Belfast Trust said Brockwell was undergoing surgery for his injuries on Thursday morning.

He remains under PSNI (Police Service of Northern Ireland) custody at the hospital.

Brockwell arrived in Dublin in February 2012 after absconding from a prison in Lancashire while he was on day release.

He was serving a life sentence for a series of armed robberies in London.

He was convicted of armed robbery in Dublin in 2013 and was serving a seven-year sentence in Portlaoise Prison. He escaped from Tallaght Hospital on Tuesday after attacking two officers who had brought him there for treatment.

An Garda Síochána was liaising with the PSNI and British police in the search for Brockwell.

All airports and harbour authorities had been alerted.