Thug given extra time after fleeing open jail

PRISONER ON RUN FOR FIVE DAYS

A FEMALE thug who escaped prison and went on the run for five days has been ordered to spend more time behind bars.

Donna Willis was locked up for five years in November 2015 after biting a grandmother’s nose and forehead.

In March this year, the 36-year-old was said to be “doing well” on her sentence, which she was serving at HMP Low Newton, in Durham, and so was transferred to open prison HMP Askham, in York.

But, just five weeks later, the mumof-four escaped and went on the run after walking out of the building and into a waiting car, which took her back to her home town of North Shields.

Police urgently issued a public appeal to trace Willis, who was found and arrested five days later.

Now, Willis, formerly of Langley Road, North Shields, has had six months added to her prison sentence after she pleaded guilty to escaping lawful custody at Newcastle Crown Court.

Prosecutor Jolyon Perks said Willis was moved to HMP Askham on March 14 this year.

He said: “On checking her room on the afternoon of April 19, it was found she was no longer in the prison facility. Further inquiries were made, including telephone checks, and it was found she had left in a vehicle, which had been driven to the prison.

“She was collected and driven away by another.”

The court heard that, when she was detained on April, she told the officer “I’m bang to rights” – but made no comment in interview.

Mr Perks added: “This is not a case where it appears she was subject to duress or force in leaving the prison. She left willingly.”

John Wilkinson, mitigating, said Willis had escaped because she had concerns for her eight-year-old child and wanted to see her ill mother and grandmother.

He said: “She fully accepts walking out. She was in the garden area and she’s opened the gate and left. She rang a friend the day before and told her she was on day release.

“That friend then collected her and took her to the North Shields area, where she stayed.”

Judge Stephen Earl said: “This is a case with family pressures, rather than a case of assisted escape, on the basis that she simply walked out of an open prison.

“Of course, this will be a case with immediate custody - one cannot con- done prisoners deciding to abscond,”

Willis was initially jailed for grievous bodily harm after biting through the skin and cartilage of grandmother Wendy Barber’s nose and sinking her teeth into her forehead.

The court at the time heard Willis already had a previous conviction for biting another woman when she attacked the 44-year-old mum-ofthree.

Wendy, from the Meadow Well, in North Shields, said in a victim statement at the time: “She was like a raging animal, I’ve never seen anything like it in my life.

“She was like a dog ragging with a toy. The whole incident has been frightening. This has affected my relationship with my grandchildren because they were upset by the injury.”

Wendy Barber, below, suffered serious facial injuries after the attack by Donna Willis, above. Willis fled prison, for which she received extra time