Fugitive Alvone Maybury was still on the loose last night and appeared to be updating his Facebook account to tell friends he was all right.

Maybury, 24, escaped on Tuesday at 10.30 a.m. as prison guards led him away from Magistrates’ Court where he had been charged with three gun related offences just minutes before.

Witnesses told The Royal Gazette the prisoner, with his hands still handcuffed in front of him, could be seen sprinting along Victoria Street.

Within 11 hours of his brazen escape Maybury appeared to be posting on a Facebook account under his name. Those close to him told this paper they believed he was posting the messages to let his friends know he was OK and show Police he was still at large.

He told friends he had spent his first hours playing video games

When we contacted Maybury yesterday, through online messages, he confirmed he had gotten the prison handcuffs off and said: ”I’m free all the way.

”The people up there [prison] are trying to make me go crazy that’s why I did wat I did.

”They way they run it is sh*t n they don’t care about helping no one. It’s all about the money 4 them.”

But later in the evening a soft-spoken Maybury told ZBM news, in a telephone interview where he did not revel his location, he had “lots of things going through my head” and would turn himself in if given a safe way to do so. He added that he did not intend to harm anyone.

Those that know Maybury told this paper the young man has had a troubled life. Both of his parents died when he was young. At the age of 12 he ran away from Observatory Cottage, which was a Government-run facility for troubled youths. At the time Police appealed to the public to help find Maybury adding: “Alvone has to take regular medication”.

At one point the Department of Child and Family Services sent Maybury to an overseas reform school.

On Tuesday Commission of the Department of Corrections Edward Lamb said he knew Maybury and did not think he would be a violent threat to the community while at large. He urged the young man to turn himself in and said an investigation had been launched into how he escaped and why he was not handcuffed behind his back, which is protocol when prisoners leave a court.

Police spent Tuesday and yesterday searching the houses of those who know Maybury, including one on Princess Street where the mother of Maybury’s child used to live.

And yesterday a special task force was established by Bermuda Police Service and Department of Corrections to continue the “systematic search” for Maybury

A spokesman added: ”The public is reminded that harbouring a fugitive is a criminal offence for which a person can be sentenced to two years’ imprisonment.

”Members of the public are asked not to approach Maybury, but to contact Police immediately to report clothing description, his location and his mode of transport if he is seen.”

While Maybury was busy yesterday updating his Facebook account an IT specialist told The Royal Gazette it was highly unlikely Police would be able to locate him through that medium.

The expert said Police would have to get the IP address of the phone Maybury was using from the US Facebook company. The expert said this would likely take a while, if Police did get it they would then have to contact the three cellular companies on the Island and find out whose company it was registered to. Then they would have to go through the logs manually and try and pull out the location, something that was quite time consuming because there is no local location-based software in place.