Crook made escape bid after officer ‘nodded off’

A CRIMINAL escaped police custody after suspecting the officer sitting next to him in hospital had ‘nodded off’.

Aron Thompson took his chance standing up and swinging his arm at the officer’s head before running out of the main entrance of the accident and emergency department at City Hospital, Birmingham.

The 33-year-old evaded pursuing police for around an hour and clambered on to roof of the Lansdowne Health Centre nearby. He was detained once more but not before he begged not be tasered or bitten by the police dog.

Thompson, from Stechford, had been arrested after being captured on CCTV trying to break into a home in Worcestershire. He admitted charges of attempted burglary and escaping lawful custody and was jailed after being sentenced to 16 months by Birmingham Crown Court.

Thompson, and two others, targeted a home on Village Street, Harvington, near Evesham, while the occupants, including their child, were home on the night of September 23, 2019.

The homeowner only discovered the incident after learning from neighbours there had been burglaries in the area and checking his own CCTV. Thompson was arrested on October 30 that year after police tracked down a vehicle he was the passenger in. He tried to run but was tasered and arrested. The defendant was taken to City Hospital after complaining about excruciating pain in his shoulder. Thompson was sitting in the waiting room with two officers following an X-ray. When one of the officers escorting him left the room, he saw his opportunity. Prosecutor Philip Brunt said: “He stood up and swung his arm which caught the right side of the head of the other officer. He immediately started to run off. “The officer gave chase. He got out through the main entrance of the A&E into the public roads.

The police officer lost him and was trying to locate others to help him. Another officer was aware he had run away and followed him. He saw him at the junction of Aberdeen Street and Dudley Road and ran towards Lansdowne Health Centre. CCTV captured him on the roof of the health centre.

“He was asking that the dog didn’t bite him and to not be tasered.”

Ian Windridge, defending, said: “At the hospital he thought the police officer sitting next to him was nodding off which is why he stood up. He got out of the hospital but didn’t get very far. He caused a problem for police officers for about an hour.”

Judge Peter Carr described his criminal record of 99 previous offences as ‘appalling’ for his age.