Prison turns away escaped convict

An escaped convict tried to give himself up - but was turned away from prison because he had no identity card.

Hakim Ghazouani, 24, had escaped from prison in Ghent, after a visit to the doctor last month.Police issued national warnings about Ghazouani who was in jail for robbery and drug dealing.

His solicitor, Nathalie Buisseret, persuaded him to turn himself in and accompanied him to a prison at Verviers.

But she said: "There we found he was denied access because he couldn't show his identity card. The warden told the man to come back later with his papers, which he did."

Verviers Prison director Pierre Detilloux said: "We never had seen the man before and we couldn't identify him. It would have been a scandal if we locked up the wrong person."