Con man creates fake email address, uses it to convince officials to free him

(Image credit: Oli Scarff/Getty Images)

last updated 31 March 2015

Why plan a Shawshank-inspired prison escape when modern technology will do the trick?

Perhaps that's what British inmate Neil Moore was thinking when he hatched an ingenious plan to get himself freed from Wandsworth Prison. Moore, who was awaiting trial on fraud charges, used a smuggled cell phone to create a fake government email account, which he used to pose as a court clerk. He then used the fake clerk email to tell prison officials that his bail had been granted. The prison then released him on March 10.

Even though he got away with the scheme, Moore "had a change of heart" and turned himself in a few days later, NBC News reports. He pleaded guilty to eight counts of fraud, as well as one count of escape from lawful custody, and he will be sentenced on April 20.