The 31-year-old, who is now at the centre of an international search, escaped after a gang of three masked men stopped the prison van.
They smashed its windows with sledgehammers and punched its driver as it was taking inmates from Hewell Prison in Redditch to Stafford Crown Court on January 23.
Instead of being transferred in a high-security prison service van with a police escort, Anslow was with other inmates in a van run by a private contractor.
His status was only upgraded after he was charged with the murder of businessman Richard Deakin.
Detectives hunting for Anslow last night searched five properties in the Tipton area of the West Midlands and arrested a man in connection with the suspected killer's escape.
Det Supt Martin Evans of Staffordshire Police, the Force leading the search, said: "The searches of these addresses is just one element of this fast moving investigation.
"Police have also arrested a male from an address in the Tipton area in connection with the escape. He remains in police custody whilst the investigation progresses."
Anslow is the first category A prisoner to escape from custody in more than 17 years.
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