IPSWICH: A thug is today back in custody today after fleeing the dock while waiting to be sentenced for a string of offences.

Stephen Ford, of Drake Square South, Ipswich, escaped from South East Suffolk Magistrates’ Court on December 8.

Police said a female friend had released Ford while magistrates were deciding how to sentence him on various charges.

He told staff he needed the toilet, but then took the opportunity of making a dash from the Elm Street site.

The 20-year-old was back at the same venue last week to hear magistrates send him to Ipswich Crown Court in relation to the escaping from the dock charge.

While he was there, Ford was sentenced for several offences relating to an incident on November 28.

Ford had been asked to leave Liquid nightclub in Cardinal Park at around 3am, but waited outside the venue for his sister.

Police noticed Ford driving a car a short distance in Cardinal Park. He refused to hand over the keys and ran from officers, who chased and detained him.

Kicking out, he assaulted one officer before assaulting another as they tried to restrain him at Ipswich police station after he refused a breath test.

He was given a 24-week term in a young offenders’ institution for failing to provide a breath specimen, assaulting two police officers and breaching the terms of an earlier suspended sentence.

Ford also pleaded guilty to two new charges – damaging a cell door in relation to the November 28 incident and having 10lb of cannabis when police caught up with him on December 16.

He was given a further 42 days in a young offenders’ institution for those offences to run alongside his 24-week term.

After the hearing, he was taken into custody until his appearance at Ipswich Crown Court on January 4.