Kirkham jail inmate admits fleeing (From Blackpool Citizen)

Kirkham jail inmate admits fleeing

2:33pm Tuesday 2nd September 2008

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Comments(0)

A man who walked out of Kirkham prison to comfort his girlfriend, was then at large for 43 days.

Mohammed Khan was eventually found hiding under a bed and Preston Crown Court was told that he had left the open prison to console his girlfriend after she had suffered a miscarriage.

Khan, 38, formerly of Edmund Street, Preston, had pleaded guilty to escaping from lawful custody in early April.

In February he had been jailed for more than two years for two burglaries.

Mrs Hilary Banks, prosecuting, said Khan's disappearance was discovered when a roll call took place at Kirkham on the evening of April 5.

He was found over a month later, on May 18, when police went to an address in St Helens.

The defendant was found hiding under an upstairs bed.

When arrested he said: "I was going to hand myself in on Monday".

He had 70 previous offences on his record.

Miss Sarah Booth, defending, said Khan had written a letter to the court to explain why he had absconded from Kirkham.

"His girlfriend had lost her baby. The temptation was too great for him.

"He took the opportunity and went to comfort her."

Sixteen weeks were added to the end of Khan's sentence.

Judge Phillip Sycamore told him: "Inmates cannot take the law into their own hands and decide when to be in prison and when not to be.

"You didn't avail yourself of any opportunity to surrender yourself".

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Comments(0)