MORE than 100 ?prisoners? were released last Saturday from Dartmoor Prison by Classic Gold radio presenter, Colin Slade, as teams took part in the 23rd annual Dartmoor Jailbreak. The event raised funds for children with cerebral palsy and other physical difficulties at Vranch House School and Centre in Exeter. Some teams split funds 50/50 with other causes such as the Lions Club of Ivybridge, Cullompton Family Centre and the Parkinson?s Disease Society. Last year the race event raised £32,742.91, almost £16,000 more than 2004. Over the 23 years it has been running it has raised more than £527,200. Year 2000 was a record year with the event raising £75,000, boosted by a £30,000 donation by the second wife of the Sultan of Brunei. This year?s teams included the Torbay Police, who have raised more than £32,000 since 1996, Plymouth police, special constables from Newton Abbot, plus a wide range of civilian teams. This year two Royal Naval lieutenants, Mike Roberts of 824 Naval Air Squadron and David Eaton of RNAS Culdrose (pictured below right), were airlifted from Princetown by a Mk1 Merlin helicopter. Their team reached Germany, their trip commemorating the real life escape from the Nazis by Peter Butterworth of 824 Squadron during the second world war. He was shot down over Holland but escaped interrogators in Germany.
