IT was an act of derring-do that symbolised means of escape – the tying of knotted sheets to make a rope.

One of the first prisoners to slip out of Winchester Prison was prolific burglar James Sheppard, who in 1892 had been sentenced to a five-year stretch behind bars for breaking into several homes, principally in the Fareham area.

It had taken several police officers to detain him after he had threatened a colleague with an iron bar.

Sheppard, like others, was bent on escape.

Readers of the Hampshire Independent were told that ‘a spirit of breaking out manifested of late among the prisoners’.

History does not relate whether an illness was genuine or bogus but Sheppard was soon transferred from the main block to the first floor of the hospital wing.

Naturally the authorities thought there was no danger of him getting out, especially as he was only clad in a shirt.

Far from it – in the middle of June, he removed a window and, using sheets and a rope which he had cunningly concealed in his cell, lowered himself down outside.

His absence was not noted until the following morning, by which time Sheppard – who also took a rug which he wrapped around his lower torso – had brazenly broken into the nearby County Arms, where he helped himself to a bottle of brandy, refreshments including ham, and a pair of boots.

Thence he entered an adjacent home where he grabbed a coat and then trudged to the hamlet of Pitt two miles away, where he slipped into the stables of a farmer and took a horse, riding off in the direction of Romsey.

However, his freedom lasted a mere two days.

Sheppard was captured at Ower and detained in a cart, a sturdy local publican sitting on him until two police officers arrived.

The three then took him by horse and cart to Lyndhurst police station to await more formal transportation back to Winchester and a meeting with the prison governor.