The moment Derek Brockwell enters chemist shop before robbing it at knifepoint of cash

THE PSNI say hunted prisoner Derek Brockeell robbed a chemist’s shop at knifepoint shortly not long before he was arrested.

Dangerous Derek Brockwell, aged 53 and from Glasgow, escaped from police custody at Tallaght Hospital in Dublin on Tuesday.

He was arrested at a bar on Bedford Street in Belfast on Wednesday night.

Brockwell tried to take his own life by stabbing himself in the stomach when police officers approached him.

They used a Taser gun to disarm and render him helpless.

Cliff McElhinney, who works in Urban Pharmacy on Dublin Road in Belfast city centre, told Irish state broadcaster RTÉ that Brockwell had threatened staff with a knife and demanded money.

“He came up to the counter with a purchase and whilst the pharmacist was ringing that through the till, he produced a knife,” he said.

“He held another member of staff at knifepoint and robbed the pharmacy then.

“Whilst it was happening staff followed procedure, they were calm and did everything they were supposed to do, but obviously being held at knifepoint is a frightening experience and not something you expect to happen in the centre of Belfast.”

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

He was found by police about 200 yards away from the pharmacy at about 7.30 pm sitting outside the Bridge House bar on Bedford Street.

He remains under PSNI (Police Service of Northern Ireland) custody at the Royal Victoria Hospital where he is receiving treatment for his injuries.

At a press conference, Supt Paula Hillman said officers would be questioning Brockwell about the incidents once he leaves hospital.

She also said police are continuing to liaise with police in Dublin and Lancashire police.

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 stabbing two officers who had brought him there for treatment.