Burglar fled jail and was caught hiding

A PROLIFIC burglar who fled from a Derbyshire prison was found hiding topless in a bedroom.

Derby Crown Court heard how Alex Rigby walked out of HMP Sudbury with a cellmate and went on the run. A media appeal was launched and police received information he might be at a house in his home town of Bolton, Lancashire.

Police knocked at the door of the property and could hear movement behind the front door.

A next-door neighbour then came to their door and told police they would find the 38-year-old in their home as he had climbed into it through a loft hatch.

When they went upstairs the defendant had cuts and scratches to his body and was hiding behind a bedroom door.

Handing him an additional eight months to the seven years he is already serving, Judge John Burgess said: “You knew when you walked out of Sudbury prison you were going to get caught because you have done it before in 2004.

“This sort of offence has to be marked with a consecutive sentence because otherwise there would be no deterrent for people escaping.

“You were on the run for five days but I accept there was not much planning and no violence.”

Jeanette Stevenson, prosecuting, said Rigby had been placed at HMP Sudbury in late 2020, part way through his sevenyear sentence for burglary, robbery and fraud, imposed at Bolton Crown Court in 2018.

She said at 8.35pm on February 18 this year officers carrying out a routine roll call realised he and his cellmate were both missing.

Miss Stevenson said: “A report was circulated to the media and on February 23 officers received information that he was at an address in Webster Street, Bolton.

“After knocking at the door they heard knocking and rumbling from inside the home and while they were standing outside they were alerted by the next-door neighbour someone was inside their house.

“Officers went upstairs and saw the loft hatch was open and this defendant was found hiding behind a door with no top on. He said he had escaped through the loft at the next-door property.”

Rigby, now at HMP Forest Bank, in Salford, pleaded guilty to unlawfully escaping from custody.

Mark Friend, mitigating, said his client had been released to Category D Sudbury as he had been doing well. He said Rigby and his cellmate made a sudden decision to walk out after being put under pressure by other inmates to hide mobile phones for them.