West Bromwich thief who escaped custody through a hospital window avoids jail again after being given suspended sentence

Liam Robbins, 22, gave his prison warders the slip when he asked to use the bathroom at Walsall Manor Hospital on April 26.

Fleet-of-foot Robbins had disappeared by the time the prison officers raised the alarm, and managed to outrun the long arm of arm of the law until July.

Robbins, of Bexley Grove, was on remand for two charges of theft after stealing a tradesman's tools in Walsall in November 2023 and then taking a widow's Ford Fiesta in Lichfield in December last year.

Recorder John Robson KC pointed out to Robbins that those offences carry significantly lesser sentences than escaping from custody, which has a maximum tariff of life imprisonment.