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WANTED MAN

Thug who robbed 11 women at knife point and left tourist blind in one eye after brutal assault on the run from Gardai

• Published: 8:00, 6 Aug 2023

A THUG who robbed 11 women at knifepoint and left a tourist blind in one eye after a brutal assault is on the run from cops.

We can reveal Luke Byrne, 23, is a wanted man after he bolted from Shelton Abbey Prison in Co Wicklow last Wednesday.

Vicious Byrne — who has links to the Phibsborough area of Dublin — was only transferred to the open prison last month.

He was jailed for nine-and-a-half years in 2018 for attacking magician Mark ­Beltran, 35, and mugging the women.

Yob Byrne rammed a pint glass into Mark’s face during an unprovoked attack in Dublin on September 9, 2016.

He was due to be released from prison next year as a result of time served and ­remission but is now a wanted

And Byrne — who was part of a teenage gang that terrorised Dublin — now faces more time in a tougher prison over his decision to abscond from custody.

If convicted, he could be see another year tacked on to his sentence.

A source told The Irish Sun on Sunday: “He was transferred to the prison ahead of his release next year but his actions will cost him more jail time.

“He had adapted to prison life since his conviction and this is a bit of a surprise. He doesn’t have the means to go too far and if he’s caught he will be going to somewhere like Mountjoy.”

Byrne’s victim told us he hopes Gardai catch him “sooner rather than later”.

Mark — who had to get 20 stitches in his right eye — said: “I had hoped he had learnt a lesson in prison for what he did to me and the other victims but obviously this isn’t the case.

“I haven’t thought about the man who took my eye for a long time. I hope he doesn’t attack anyone else now that he’s a fugitive. He left me with life-changing injuries but has never shown any remorse.”

Since the shocking attack almost eight years ago, Mark has struggled with depression and is now working to help other victims of violence in his native Philippines.

And he told us: “I still want to see Dublin in a new light and hope to return to the city at some stage.”