A TEENAGE robber has had another eight months added to his sentence – for fleeing the courtroom after he was originally sentenced for a mugging last month.

Ricky Kerry, 19, of Jones Close, Southend, made a break for it after being told he could spend as long as 28 months behind bars for punching a man andstealing his mobilephone in Sutton Road, Southend, in April.

At his sentencing hearing, on June 21, he leapt from the dock at Southend Crown Court, ran downstairs and into the High Street.

During his escape, he damaged a door in thecourt, causing an estimated £500 damage.

Kerry was arrested four days later near his mother’s home in Wickford Mews, Basildon, and yesterday, he was brought back before Judge Lodge to admit fleeing custody and be sentenced for it.

The judge told Kerry, who appeared at Basildon Crown Court via video-link from a young offenders’ institution, it was not possible to have a secure dock in every court and defendants in such situations were trusted not to flee.

Yesterday, Samantha Lowther, prosecuting, told the court Kerry approached police behind his mother’s home, initially giving a false name.

His lawyer, Matthew Bone, said: “This was a young man who was told he had been sentenced for two years and escaped in blind panic. It was opportunistic.”

The judge said he accepted Kerry’s escape had not been planned.