Lawyer's clerk faces jail after texting robber in his cell days before mobile was used in breakout from prison van Sarah McCabe texted Ryan MacDonald, whom her firm was representing Mobile phone was illegally smuggled into a prison where he was being held They discussed MacDonald's possible jail sentence McDonald, 20, and a fellow inmate were broken out of a prison van at gunpoint whilst they were on their way to face court McCabe admits assisting an offender and could face six months in jail A lawyer's clerk is facing prison after she texted a convicted robber whom her firm was representing in his cell before a mobile phone was used to stage his breakout from a prison van. Sarah McCabe, 33, sent three texts to Ryan MacDonald after the phone was illegally smuggled into a prison where he was being held. Three weeks later MacDonald, 20, and a fellow inmate were broken out of a prison van at gunpoint whilst they were on their way to face court. McCabe, seen here arriving at Preston Magistrates' Court, texted Ryan MacDonald, who escaped from a prison van during a daring breakout out in Salford, Greater Manchester. She admitted assisting an offender A gang of masked men, believed to be using GPS technology to track the van, blocked it with a Saab car in the middle of the street and threatened a guard with a sawn-off shotgun before smashing the windows of the vehicle. The two inmates escaped from the truck and all five jumped back into the Saab car which was dumped further down the street. Three of the gang ran into a nearby council estate whilst the other two sped off on a motorbike. Both escaped inmates were recaptured a few days later. It is not clear how the phone was used in the break out, although many smartphones have a feature that allows them to broadcast their GPS location to others. McCabe did nothing to alert authorities and kept up the contact rather than bringing phone to the attention of authorities Prosecutor Elisa Hopley The escape occurred on April 30 after MacDonald instructed McCabe's law firm to represent him after he was charged over raids on pawnbrokers in Manchester and Salford where jewellery was stolen in daylight smash-and-grab raids. McCabe sent her text messages on April 4 after he was remanded in custody to await sentence for conspiracy to rob and aggravated vehicle taking. McCabe of Swinton, Salford, who was acting for MacDonald in his court case was arrested after a SIM card was recovered from his cell at the privately run Altcourse jail near Liverpool in the run up to the escape. Police investigating the breakout later examined the SIM and found three text messages from MacCabe on it in which she and her client discussed the possible sentence he might face for robbing pawnbrokers shops. In one message MacDonald texted McCabe saying: 'Bail me?' but she did not reply. He then texted her saying: 'Get us a three. I will take that ha ha x' to which she later responded: 'Oh yeah, that's gonna happen x' The escape occurred after MacDonald instructed McCabe's law firm to represent him after he was charged over daylight smash and grab raids on pawnbrokers in Manchester and Salford McDonald texted back saying: 'Is it a five then?' and McCabe who works at David O'Reilly Solicitors in Salford sent two further texts. At Preston magistrates she burst into tears after she was warned she faced over six months in jail after she admitted assisting an offender. District judge Jane Goodwin sent her to crown court saying the case was so serious her powers of sentencing were not sufficient enough. She told McCabe: 'You turned a blind eye to the fact that one of your clients had a mobile phone in prison. As a result you facilitated him accessing that mobile phone. You should have alerted someone. Not only does that cause security problems for the prison but it brings the legal profession into disrepute. The fact he escaped shows the impact that this had. You also failed to tell him to desist from contacting you. A gang of masked men believed to be using GPS technology to track the police van blocked it with a Saab car The prison van guard was threatened with a sawn off shotgun before the gang smashed the windows of the vehicle Prosecutor Elisa Hopley said: 'A significant amount of planning into that escape was conducted by mobile phones held illegally. A phone used by MacDonald was active between March 8 and April 24. The SIM card was recovered from his cell but the handset was not recovered. The handset was the one used in the escape and that has not been found. 'McCabe's personal telephone number came to the attention of the police. It became clear that she had contact with MacDonald when he was in prison. Her mobile phone was then seized. McCabe has admitted the offence and contact with MacDonald in interviews and admitted it was her personal phone and she used it for personal and work reasons. She was under no illusions that she was in contact with a phone that was held illegally. They talked about a potential sentence for MacDonald. Police investigating the breakout later examined the SIM and found three text messages from McCabe on it MacDonald and another inmate escaped from the truck and all five jumped back into the Saab car which was dumped further down the street McCabe did nothing to alert authorities and kept up the contact rather than bringing phone to the attention of authorities. Had the prison authorities been notified about the phone then their actions may have been different and that may well have affected the escape of the prisoners. Her failure to notify authorities may have aided the escape. McCabe should have been aware of the serious nature of this. She was an experienced legal representative. She can't have failed to have been aware of he serious impact of phones in prison.' In mitigation McCabe's lawyer Rob Kearney said: 'She should have informed someone in her office and shouldn't have sent those three texts in 13 minutes but the context is about a sentence he was going to receive. The SIM cards were seized a week before his escape. My client didn't have anything to do with his escape. She certainly has been foolish but there wasn't any serious criminality behind it.' McCabe will sentenced later this month. McDonald was jailed for seven years and ten months over the jewellery raids. He and his fellow inmate Steve McMullen, 31, are due to face court later over the escape.