Lesbos

Oct 2000 - People

John McVicar - who for two years in the 1960s was Britain's most wanted man - has pulled another sensational escape.

In 1968 he tunnelled out of Durham's high security Special Wing, spent two years on the run robbing banks before going back to prison to finish a 26 year jail sentence. In 1980, Roger Daltrey of The Who starred in a movie of his life.

This time he escaped not from Durham's high security Special Wing but from the Greek island of Lesbos. And not through a tunnel but in a wheelchair!

He suffered serious injuries after a scooter accident on Lesbos but decided to escape when the police, the bike hire shop and the owner of the car put the heat on him in hospital.

He says: "Everyone was waiving forms, massive bills and demanding money, so I decided to pull one last escape. Although this one was more like a Carry On movie than the McVicar film."

After being released in 1978 to take a post-graduate degree at Leicester, McVicar became a journalist. He was on Lesbos to report on the recent Sappho festival, when a 100 UK lesbians flew in to celebrate the birth of their patron saint Sappho who was born on the island in 628 BC.

He blames the whole disaster on his editor: "When I was asked to do the story, my editor gave me this T-shirt as a joke. On the front was "I only want to watch"; on the back was a mock-up of that famous picture of the little Dutch boy with his finger in the dyke. Even I cringed when he gave it to me.

"I was wearing it when I had the crash. I'm sure the old Greek gods decided to get even with me for insulting Sappho.

"Mind you, the bike was dodgy; all I had on, aside from the T-shirt, was sandals, shorts and baseball cap; I was daydreaming about the lesbians; and my insurance wasn't valid. But I still blame the T-shirt.

"This Fiat Panda came round the bend and because I was thinking about other things I swerved and braked late. But the bike went under me and smashed into the Fiat. I came off as you do. I suppose given what I was wearing my injuries were the least I could expect."

He fractured his wrist, ankle, injured his head and ripped off the skin all up his right side. He says: "At least the T-shirt protected my shoulder. It was made of cotton, none of that man-made fibre."

He was ambulanced to hospital where he was given drugs for shock, tested for brain damage, his leg and ankle put in plaster and generally patched up. He swears by the Greek medical service.

"I know what they say about Greek women but it does not apply to Greek nurses. I swear, they are all modelled on Venus de Milo. Having them rubbing up against me as they dressed my wounds was a better pain killer than morphine.

"But suddenly there were armed police, the Fiat driver and his mate and the scooter company owner laying siege to my hospital bed. They all had something in their hand: forms, invoices, bills.

"I kept hearing the word "Drachma" with lots of big numbers before it. The nervous system couldn't take it. I went into post-traumatic shock.

"Eventually, it all got postponed because the doctors said I had to rest for three days. My problem was the scooter was a 180 cc job, whereas my licence only covered me for 125 cc. Of course, the scooter owner ignored this when he hired me the bike, but I could feel my passport being impounded while it was all sorted.

" The scooter was a Gilera Runner and I decided to take my inspiration from that even though I was in a wheelchair. I did a runner. I discharged myself from hospital and got a cab to the airport. There, I booked an internal flight to Athens. I was still in the wheelchair.

"At Athens, I had to wait 12 hours for a connecting flight to London. I was already thinking they were putting wanted poster up all over Lesbos but I was sitting pretty. Or so I thought.

"I decided to trundle off round the airport to buy some food and coffee. I went to propel the wheelchair with my right hand - the left one was kaput - and found all I could do was wheelies. I could not go anywhere except round and round in a circle. This definitely wasn't the way it was the last time I was on the run.

"I had 12 twelve hours without anything to do except tap away at my laptop computer. But eventually I made it back to London.

"The next day, after visiting the hospital where they kitted me out with a pair of ingenious crutches. I went to see my editor. He is from the old Fleet Street school - every disaster is a cue for a joke.

James Stein took one look at me and said: "I'm sorry, John but obviously those lesbians didn't see the funny side of that T-shirt I gave you."

[McVicar is donating the fee for this article to Mytilene Hospital, Lesbos.]