Crim with a grudge Jason Herbert dumps his e-bracelet - The Australian

On the run ... Jason Herbert. Source: The Daily Telegraph

A NSW prisoner has cut off his electronic monitoring device and is en route to Perth and there are fears he may target two police officers he blames for his brother's death.

The fugitive, Jason Herbert, a vicious armed robber, left the device at a halfway house, giving authorities the impression he was still there and not on the run.

The Corrective Services Department became aware of Herbert's escape about 1am on Saturday.

The latest security breach comes a fortnight after The Daily Telegraph revealed 174 tracking devices malfunctioned in the first nine months of this year.

Corrective Services NSW Commissioner Peter Severin has ordered an urgent inquiry into an incident.

"A parolee evaded his electronic monitoring and absconded from his approved place of residence near Newcastle," a Corrective Services spokesman said.

"Police are searching for the offender, Jason Herbert, who was released on parole for armed robbery and grievous bodily harm in November. Western Australia police have been notified."

The State Parole Authority has listed the breach and will apply to have his parole revoked.

Herbert had served eight years of a 16-year sentence when he was released last year. He breached his parole conditions in July this year and was heading to Perth when police caught him in Adelaide and returned him to Sydney.

He was sentenced to four months for breaching his conditions but was again released on parole last month.

Herbert blames two Perth police officers for the death of his brother, Troy Mathew Herbert, who died in a police chase in 2009.The ease with which the prisoner was able to fool authorities and cut off the bracelet compounds revelations by accused murderer Ron Medich in May that his device had not worked on several occasions.

Attorney-General Greg Smith was forced to reveal in parliament that some of the malfunctions were due to maintenance problems and in other cases offenders were damaging the devices.

There are 391 bracelets in place in NSW for those who have been sentenced to home detention or who are on intensive correction orders.

Asked to guarantee there would be no further malfunctions, Mr Smith said: "It is not possible to provide such a guarantee. The electronic ankle bracelet, like any piece of electronic equipment, requires regular maintenance."

An inquest into Herbert's brother's death heard police hit speeds of up to 198km/h to catch up to a motorcyclist they wanted to stop.