This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

A man who jumped from a courtroom dock and fled moments after being found guilty of rape has been handed an extra six months in custody.

Bradley Tout, 20, escaped Worcester crown court after a jury convicted him of attacking a 16-year-old girl.

He handed himself in four days later and began serving his seven-and-a-half year sentence for rape. Tout pleaded guilty on Friday to a charge of escaping from lawful custody.

Sentencing Tout, who appeared in court via a prison video link, the judge, James Tindal, said he had shown “panic and, bluntly, cowardice” by running from court.

The judge told Tout, of Ronkswood, Worcester: “Whatever was going through your mind as the jury reached their verdict, ultimately you have to have responsibility for what you did.

“I accept this was never a planned escape. You were standing there, blithely expecting the jury to say ‘not guilty’ when they said ‘guilty’. In the heat of the moment you bolted, you ran, you caused chaos in the court building.”

Imposing a six-month sentence for the escape, the judge added: “There has been a furore about this case, Mr Tout – a furore which is regrettable and obscures the seriousness of the original offence.”

Paul Whitfield, prosecuting, said Tout turned up at a police station with his parents. “When interviewed, he said he considered he was innocent,” he said. “He had been in turmoil and said he had reacted to what was unfolding in front of him.”

Staff from the private custody services company GEOAmey were on duty at the time of the escape. A company spokesman said at the time that a custody officer attended hospital after sustaining injuries during the incident.

However, Tout’s barrister, Abigail Nixon, said: “Nobody got anywhere close to catching him – he was long gone before the security staff went after him.”