A man known as Houdini for his numerous disappearing acts, including a 2008 escape from Mt Eden Prison, has been recaptured after more than four months on the run.
Aaron Stephen Forden (30) was arrested in the Auckland suburb of Ponsonby on Rugby World Cup opening night after breaking out of the Whangarei District Court on June 2 by removing a bar from a secure interview room.
He appeared in the Auckland District Court last week where he pleaded guilty to unlawfully interfering with a motor vehicle, possession of cannabis and refusing to give his identity to police.
He will be sentenced next month.
In 2008, Forden escaped from Mt Eden by crawling through roof cavities to a tower and using a rope of sheets to lower himself over the barbed wire to freedom.
He was captured three days later.
