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Mum Facing Jail After Digging 35ft Tunnel Into Jail To Free Murderer Son

Mum Facing Jail After Digging 35ft Tunnel Into Jail To Free Murderer Son

The mother would dig only at night so as not to attract any attention to herself, while laying low in the town during the day

Jess Hardiman

Jess Hardiman

A dedicated mother is facing jail after single-handedly digging her way into a Ukrainian jail to free her son, who has been serving a life sentence for murder.

The unnamed 51-year-old woman started her grand masterplan by renting a house located near the jail in Zaporizhia, in south-east Ukraine.

Using shovels and pickaxes, the mum then managed to dig a tunnel, working only at night so as not to attract any attention to what she was up to.

Police Ukraine

In the end, she managed to carve out a 10ft-deep tunnel, which started in a field near her son's prison and then ran 35ft underground to just under the building's walls.

The woman would stay indoors so that locals wouldn't recognise her as an outsider, but by the time night fell, she would arrive at the dig site on a silent electric scooter, using a small trolley inside the tunnel to collect the debris.

A jail guard said: "She had a kind of trolley, a piece of plywood with small wheels, so she could remove the soil."

Police Ukraine
Police Ukraine

After digging, the woman would dump the dirt in an abandoned garage, not far from her dig site - working her way through around three tons of earth by the time she was caught.

She was somehow able to keep this up for three weeks until she was eventually found and arrested.

When police searched her rented home, they found hand tools for digging.

Ukrainian TV station TSN said a local shopkeeper did not recognise the woman when shown a photo of her.

TSN

Many residents actually feel slightly impressed by the mother's dedication and hard graft, with someone called Serhey Pilnyansky telling TSN: "This mother prepared thoroughly. Perhaps she is a miner's daughter.

"To dig three metres deep would be hard enough. She had no excavator or anything of the kind."

Another local called Anastasia Pylyavska added: "That's how a mother is!"

While her son's name has not been given, reports say he is from Mykolaiv, a five-hour drive away.

Featured Image Credit: TSN

Topics: World News, Ukraine, News, crime, Prison