Three people have been arrested over the violent escape of a notorious Scottish convict from prison in Ireland.

A man and woman in their 60s were detained in the Ashbourne area of Co Meath this morning over the fleeing from custody of Glaswegian Derek Brockwell, 53, last month.

Another man, in his mid-30s, was arrested in Portlaoise in connection with the incident.

They are being held under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act at Tallaght and Rathfarnham Garda Stations in Dublin.

Brockwell was recaptured after being caught drinking a pint yards from two shops he is suspected of holding up with a knife in Belfast.

He was detained on February 18 with the help of a Taser by armed police officers, just days after he escaped from custody across the border in the Irish Republic.

Brockwell is also wanted by police in England, where he failed to return to prison in Lancashire to serve a series of life sentences having been out on day release.

The criminal was being taken to Tallaght Hospital in south Dublin from high-security Portlaoise Prison for a medical appointment when he made his escape.

Two prison officers accompanying him were both stabbed in the incident, with one requiring emergency surgery for a serious stomach wound.

Brockwell was handed 22 life sentences in the UK for armed robbery and had appeared as a wanted man on the BBC's Crimewatch show.

After fleeing hospital in Dublin he was picked up by an awaiting accomplice on a motorbike or in a car which sped away from the scene.

The serial criminal was two years into a seven-year sentence for armed robbery after he admitted holding up the Bank of Ireland in Blackrock, south Dublin, in October 2012.

He was also convicted of robbing a post office and a bookmaker's as well as for firearms offences in the Irish capital.

Brockwell landed in Ireland after failing to return to Kirkham Prison in England, where he had been allowed out on day release for a work scheme.

He carried out armed robberies on betting shops in London's Marylebone and Paddington areas during September and October 1999.

A full report has been ordered into the circumstances around the escape by Irish Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald.