French prison van attack: Who is escaped prisoner Mohamed Amra?

Amra’s mother said he had not given any indication he would try to escape.

“He doesn’t talk to me. He’s my son, he doesn’t talk to me about anything at all.”

She said she went to visit him in several of the prisons he’s been held in, but “he never gave anything away. I don’t understand”.

She described breaking down in tears after hearing about the ambush.

“I broke down, I cried – I was so unwell – how can lives be taken away in this way?” she told RTL.

She also described her son’s life in the prison system, saying he was “lugged around left right and centre, they put him in isolation instead of sentencing him once and for all”.

He had been held in separate prisons in Marseille, Paris and Rouen during the legal process against him for theft, which resulted in an 18-month jail sentence.

He had 13 previous convictions for largely minor offences, including driving without a licence, theft and refusing to stop for police, according to BFMTV.

However his implication in the death of a man from Dreux near Rouen who was kidnapped in Marseille in acts linked to drug trafficking suggests involvement with more serious criminals.