Pyjama-wearing criminal escapes after tricking police officers into getting him coffee and biscuits

A violent criminal managed to escape wearing only pyjamas after he tricked police into getting him coffee and biscuits.

Kieron Jenkins, 30, fled a hospital barefoot after the two officers who were supposed to be keeping watch over him left him alone.

Just hours earlier he had been arrested for handling stolen goods and biting a police officer on the arm following a foot chase.

Warwick Crown Court heard he was transferred to hospital after there were concerns for his mental health and two officers were sent to guard his room.

But he managed to flee when he asked one officer to fetch him a cup of coffee and moments later the other left to get him biscuits.

Police were forced to make a public appeal telling people not to approach Jenkins after he escaped last month.

A police helicopter was dispatched to search for Jenkins, who was finally discovered three days later at his home address, which is three miles away.

Jenkins, of Coventry, was jailed on Friday for 14 months after he admitted handling stolen property, assaulting an emergency worker and escaping from custody.

Sentencing him, Judge Barry Berlin said: “In a room at the hospital you asked offices for a coffee and biscuits.

“That was plainly a ruse and you made your escape in green pyjamas.”

The court heard Jenkins was caught selling a laptop which had been stolen in a house burglary in Coventry in March.

On 12 June officers on patrol in the city spotted Jenkins, who was on licence and was wanted on recall to prison and for receiving the stolen laptop.

There was a chase, during which he tried to climb a fence, but was brought down by one of the officers who was bitten on the arm by Jenkins.

Jenkins was bundled into a police car and taken into custody before being transferred to University Hospital Coventry for a mental health assessment.

Prosecutor Stuart Clarkson said: “He was being guarded by officers, and he asked for a coffee and a biscuit.

“They went to get one, and he took the opportunity of leaving the room and making off.

“Even though he was still in green pyjamas, they lost him, but some days later they attended his address and arrested him.”

The court heard Jenkins had a number of previous convictions for offences including handling stolen goods.

David Murray, defending, said: “He was clearly under arrest. He asked one officer for a cup of coffee, and that officer left, and he then asked the other officer for a packet of biscuits.

“That officer left as well. He then took the opportunity to leave. It wasn’t planned.”

SWNS contributed to this report