This is the shocking moment a teenager escaped from a court room minutes after he was sentenced to five months in prison because they wanted to go play snooker.
The dramatic video footage was released after Callum Finter, 21, was jailed for pushing a button to allow his 17-year-old friend to flee the courthouse.
Bradford Crown Court was shown CCTV of Finter pressing the button in a hallway of the court, causing a locked door to fly open and for the teenager to run away.
Finter’s lawyers claimed he had triggered the button spontaneously and not in a bid to help his phone thief friend escape from Bradford Youth Court in July.
Bradford Crown Court was shown CCTV of Finter pressing the button in a hallway of the court, causing a locked door to fly open and for the teenager to run away (shown)
The defendant, sporting a Burberry cap, was seen lurking close to the doors where the teen, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was being sentenced.
Finter told the court in his evidence the only plan that day was for the two friends ‘to go and play snooker’ after the court hearing.
Judge David Hatton, QC, told Finter: ‘If there was not a pre-conceived plan I am entirely satisfied that you were anticipating that which in fact occurred.’
Finter said that he was there to support his younger friend whose solicitor had suggested that he would be ‘coming out’ – and not be jailed at the end of the hearing.
After four burly security guards enter through the same doors Finter is spotted on CCTV positioning himself close to the door’s release catch.
When the teenager was then sentenced to 21 weeks in custody for the theft of a mobile phone – he pushes past the guards and flees out the door after Finter pressed the button.
The defendant, sporting a Burberry cap, was seen lurking close to the doors where the teen, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was being sentenced
As the teen runs past, with four guards giving chase, Finter appears to smirk and follow them out of the hallway
Judge Hatton, who was sentencing in the case, said: ‘After your friend had run past you, you shouted something.
‘I got the very clear impression from watching the CCTV back that you were encouraging him on his way.
‘Escape from lawful custody is always regarded as a serious offence for understandable reasons – it follows that assisting someone to escape is also regarded, rightly, as a serious matter.’
The teenager was on the run for two days, but after his arrest he was eventually sentenced to an extra six months detention for the escape when he later appeared at Kirklees Magistrates Court.
Finter, of Bradford, West Yorkshire, who pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting his friend’s escape, was jailed for three months on Thursday.
Finter said he didn’t know why he pressed the button adding: ‘It wasn’t something I sat and thought about.’
The teenager was on the run for two days, but after his arrest he was eventually sentenced to an extra six months detention for the escape