Police have arrested a man and recovered a catapult and parcels following an incident at HMP Altcourse on Tuesday 1 May.

At around 7.10pm, a man was sighted making an apparent attempt to fire a package into the prison grounds. The package hit the prison wall and he was chased on foot and detained in the grounds of Aintree Hospital. Further parcels containing suspected cannabis and a catapult were located nearby.

A 24-year-old man from Speke was arrested on suspicion of attempting to throw a prohibited article into a prison on behalf of a prisoner, and has been taken to a police station for questioning.

Community Superintendent Mark Wiggins said: "Merseyside Police will continue to seek ways to combat those who use any method to get illegal articles into prison using cutting edge technology and information from communities. This is one of a number of people arrested in the last year for such matters some of whom have gone to prison themselves as a result of their criminal actions.

“We continue to work in close partnership with HMP Altcourse and all prisons to keep the prison community and those in the wider community of Merseyside safe."

If you have any information on this type of illegal activity, please contact @MerpolCC, call 101 or @CrimestoppersUK on 0800 555 111.