Alfred Hinds British criminal who escaped from custody three times Country: Great Britain

Alfred Hinds: The Escape Artist

Alfred George 'Alfie' Hinds, also known as 'Houdini Hinds', was a British criminal who managed to escape from prison three times. His disappearing acts were so skillful and mysterious that he earned the nickname 'Houdini'. Born in 1917, Hinds grew up in a family of thieves. His father, a thief himself, died while serving a sentence for armed robbery when Hinds was only 7 years old. Following in his father's footsteps, Hinds started stealing at a young age and ended up in Borstal, a correctional facility for juvenile offenders, from which he later escaped.

Despite his troubled past, Hinds was called to serve in the army during World War II. However, he soon deserted and continued his life of crime. In 1953, Hinds was arrested for a jewelry store robbery, but the stolen goods worth $90,000 were never recovered. Hinds denied his guilt, but he was sentenced to 12 years in prison. During his sentence, he managed to escape from a locked cell and climb over a 6-meter high prison wall. This escape earned him the nickname 'Houdini'.

After his escape, Hinds worked in the construction business and became a skilled decorator, traveling throughout Europe for contract work. He led an honest life and stayed away from crime. However, his past finally caught up with him, and in 1956, detectives from Scotland Yard tracked him down after 248 days of freedom. Hinds was taken back to prison, but he disagreed with his arrest and filed a lawsuit for unlawful detention. He used the court process as an opportunity for his second escape.

During a trip to the restroom, with two guards removing his handcuffs, Hinds managed to lock them both inside the restroom cabin and simply walked out of the courthouse. However, his clever plan eventually failed, and he was recaptured at the airport just five hours later. Undeterred, Hinds planned and executed his third escape less than a year later from Chelmsford Prison. He fled to Ireland, where he spent the next two years working as a car salesman under the name William Herbert Bishop. He was caught almost by chance, when he was stopped driving an unregistered vehicle.

Once again, Hinds was sent back to prison, where he continued to proclaim his innocence and wrote numerous letters to members of the British Parliament. By this time, Hinds had gained widespread notoriety, and he even sold the story of his life to the 'News of the World' news agency for $40,000. Despite his escape attempts, Hinds still had to serve six more years as the law did not consider his escapes as a separate offense. In 1964, he even won a lawsuit against Herbert Sparks, the former head of Scotland Yard's detective division.

After completing his sentence, Alfred Hinds was freed and had already become a celebrity. He later became a renowned public speaker, mainly criticizing the English justice system in his speeches. Surprisingly, Hinds himself fell victim to a kidnapping when six drunken students abducted him and held him captive in a basement with a gag in his mouth. However, having escaped from much more secure prisons, Hinds easily freed himself. Later on, he became a member of Mensa, an organization for people with high IQ, and worked as the secretary of the Channel Islands' Mensa Society.