“Shortly after 03:30hrs on Tuesday, 10 February, the Met was informed by the Prison Service that a prisoner had escaped custody while under the care of prison staff at a west London hospital,” a Metropolitan Police spokesperson told the Mirror.

Boakye, of Enfield, was sentenced to six years and five months in prison in July 2023 for conspiracy to commit robbery and an additional robbery offence.

Police said that while the investigation proceeds at pace, it will not be able to provide further details.

Officers are carrying out urgent enquiries in an effort to locate Boakye and return him to custody, police added.

Between June 2021 and January 2022, Boakye and three other teenagers conducted out a series of robberies and attempted robberies across London, Essex Live reported.

The group, armed with knives, forced victims to hand over mobile phones and provide passcodes to unlock them.

They then transferred victims’ cryptocurrency into “hot wallets”, stealing more than £115,000 in total.

The gang also stored bank details to buy top-up cards, pay for taxi fares and complete other fraudulent transactions.

Detective Constable James Green, of the Met’s Specialist Crime Command, said at the time that there were 19 robberies within the conspiracy in which 26 people were robbed in total.

“During my career as a police officer I have not come across criminals of such a cowardly nature,” Constable Green added.

“The group singled out innocent members of the public whilst armed with weapons in order to rob them of their mobile phones and digital currencies. They would insinuate that the victims were members of an opposing gang, whilst all knew that these were innocent members of the public.”