Son is turned in by mother

A TEENAGE burglar was turned in to police by his mother after he escaped from Snaresbrook Crown Court.

Craig Whayling, 18, the latest in a long line of prisoners to escape from the court, was sentenced to 34 months in prison last week.

He appeared at the court in May on a charge of burglary after breaking into a house in Woodford Green in January and stealing electrical equipment to buy drugs.

Before his court appearance he committed another burglary in Hackney while on bail.

Police eventually caught him for the first offence in Woodford Green when the man he burgled saw him standing with his property at Snaresbrook Tube.

After the court hearing, Whayling escaped from the cells at the court by removing a panel from a wall and climbing out.

He went home but his mother immediately took him to the local police station.

The escape is the latest in a long line of attempts to abscond from the court in Hollybush Hill.

In June Michael Kendall escaped after being convicted for stabbing someone in the neck during a car jacking.

In September last year convicted rapist Paul Reid jumped from the dock and fled, and in May two criminals awaiting sentence for holding up a shop with an imitation firearm escaped from the court's holding cells.

Sentencing the teenager, from Hackney, Snaresbrook Crown Court Judge Nicolas Medawar said: "You leave your victims with a feeling of insecurity and anxiety, brought on by your behaviour. In addition to committing domestic burglaries, while taken into custody, you escaped.

That attracts a further custodial sentence."

Judge Medawar gave Whayling two concurrent 30-month sentences for each burglary and a further four months for the escape.

10:13 Thursday 1st August 2002

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