Sick threats of lag as he ‘bulked up’ and taunted enemies on Facebook using smuggled phone before breaking out of Pentonville prison
A VIOLENT con on the run following a daring jailbreak posted threats on Facebook with a smuggled phone days before he escaped.
Matthew Baker, 28 — who fled London’s Pentonville jail while awaiting sentence for attempted murder — swapped messages with his family before issuing warnings to his enemies.
He wrote: “I know your names and where you live and believe me we’ll meet again one day.” Baker and cellmate James Whitlock, 31, escaped on Sunday after sawing through cell bars.
Escaped con Matthew Baker posted a string of photos from jail showing how he had bulked up in the prison gym.
The 28-year-old, who fled his cell on Sunday after using a dummy to fool jailers, spent hours working out after arriving at Pentonville on remand last year.
And he displayed the results in his muscle-bound snaps — the first posted on Facebook on October 23, 19 days after his conviction for attempted murder.
Baker — now the focus of a huge police hunt — went on to exchange messages with relatives using a smuggled mobile phone before warning his enemies: “I know where you live.”
In his final post on October 26, Baker — who faced a sentence of up to 35 years this Friday — hinted his escape plot was already firmly under way.
He said: “We can’t change the past but we can change the future.” Last night his Facebook page, set up after his Snaresbrook crown court conviction on October 4, was taken down after The Sun raised the alarm.
Sources said Baker’s daring flit — which echoed film classic Escape From Alcatraz — was almost certainly planned using at least one phone.
The Sun has repeatedly revealed examples of the mobile menace in Britain’s jails, with cons routinely using handsets to break the law.
But this is the first time a mobile has been used in such a dramatic escape.
Yesterday cops were still hunting Baker and fellow escapee James Whitlock, 31 — charged with conspiracy to burgle.
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The pair broke out of their G Wing cell at Pentonville in North London at 10.40pm on Sunday after stuffing their bunk beds with pillows to convince officers they were asleep.
It is believed a getaway car was waiting for them outside.
Prison officers who failed to spot the pair were missing during at least three “heads on beds” checks only realised they had vanished 12 hours later.
Baker, from Dagenham, East London, was convicted by a jury who heard how he stabbed a man with a broken glass and a knife in March last year.
In his message to his enemies from behind bars, Baker warned: “Let’s get one thing straight to anyone who wants to say anythink behind my back.
“I know your names n where yous live n believe me we’ll meet again one day n i dont forget nothic just remember that yous know who yous are.”
Last night cops were urgently probing the messages. A source said: “This heaps embarrassment on those ultimately in charge of Pentonville security.”