A man who leapt out of the dock and escaped court was jailed this week after handing himself in to police.
Nicholas Bunclark was jailed on January 3 for 16 months after being convicted of assault occasioning actual bodily harm. It followed an attack at a hostel on Leyland Road in Southport on November 19, 2021.
But soon after the judge made his sentencing remarks, Bunclark vaulted the gate out of the unsecured dock at Liverpool Crown Court as he was being led to the cells. The 30-year-old didn't go missing for long as he handed himself into Copy Lane Police Station in Bootle on Wednesday.
READ MORE: Girl, 4, dies of sepsis following 'missed opportunities'
Here the ECHO takes a look at the case of Bunclark and other criminals who escaped from the dock or fled from court.
Nicholas Bunclark
Nicholas Bunclark leapt out of the dock and went on the run in what he described as a "moment of madness."
Bunclark said he "almost could not believe no one was following him" as he fled from Liverpool Crown Court on Tuesday, January 3. The 30-year-old, of St Oswald's Lane in Netherton, went on the run before handing himself into Copy Lane Police Station in Bootle the following day, January 4, where he was remanded into custody.
Bunclark appeared back in court again on Thursday, January 5, where he pleaded guilty to escape from lawful custody. Chris Taylor, prosecuting, told the court it was understood the defendant wanted to speak to family and did so by escaping the dock and court.
After exiting the building, the dad then got a train to Southport. Nicola Daley, defending, said the defendant told her it was a "moment of madness" and in his previous sentencing for assault, the court heard Bunclark had "suffered both mental and physical illness in current years".
Bunclark was sentenced to a further four months in prison which is to run consecutively to the 16 month sentence given to the defendant on Tuesday for assault.
John Carr
A cocaine dealer who was at court for sentencing lost his nerve and fled before his case was called on.
John Carr was then on the run for three months before being re-arrested. He was jailed for two years and four months on October 11 last year.
Liverpool Crown Court heard that the 45-year-old sought solace in class A drugs six years ago following the death of his sister. He locked himself in the bathroom while flushing items down the toilet when police raided his home, discovering him in possession of illicit substances and cash.
His defence counsel pointed out that this £30 sum was indicative of his level of dealing.
Carr was set to be sentenced on June 14 last year, but left the building ahead of the hearing. A warrant was issued for his arrest as a result and he was eventually apprehended.
Lee O'Neill
Serial crook Lee O'Neill decided to make a run for it when told he faced prison yet again for breaching a community order.
The 38-year-old repeatedly asked if he could go to the toilet, before begging an usher to let his partner come into court. But when Helen Robinson, then 45, walked in, O'Neill asked her to open the dock door, which she did, and the couple fled.
The usher shouted "no" before the career criminal pushed past him, causing him to stumble and nearly fall to the floor. Robinson asked if her boyfriend had been sent down, and when told that he had, shouted back: "I'm glad I let him out."
The pair fled Warrington Magistrates' Court at around 11.30am on August 13 2020 and spent just over a day at large. Police found them hiding at another woman's house in Warrington - which O'Neill was banned from - at 8.20pm on August 14.
A standoff ensued for 20 minutes, when O'Neill and the two women refused to open the door or comply with officers' instructions. O'Neill was jailed for 10 months after he admitted escape from lawful custody, common assault and breaching a restraining order.
Robinson, of Ripley Street, Warrington, initially denied aiding and abetting her boyfriend's escape and was set to stand trial. However, she later changed her plea to guilty.
Gerald Baxter, defending, said O'Neill asked her for a kiss and when she opened the door, that in itself was an escape, but she didn't know he would run out of the building.
Judge Teague accepted a reworded basis of plea, stating that Robinson knew O'Neill would escape the dock, but not the court. He said Robinson's culpability was significantly less than O'Neill's and sentenced her to three months in prison, adding: "By my calculations, that should mean you are released immediately."
James Gelling
A Southport prisoner leapt over a 12ft high dock, assaulted a security guard and fled from a court room.
James Gelling evaded two security guards to clamber over the Perspex partition into the bowels of Bootle Magistrates Court. He fled into the magistrates' quarters before making his escape from the building on November 21, 2014.
Merseyside Police launched a four-week manhunt for the then 27-year-old, that came to an end in the early hours of December 18 that year. Gelling appeared at Liverpool Crown Court where he stood handcuffed in a secure dock and admitted escaping from lawful custody, criminal damage and assault.
The court heard it was not the first time Gelling had escaped from a dock, following a similar incident at Southport Magistrates’ Court in 2006, when he was caught before he could escape building.
Gelling also attacked a landlord in a row over rent in 2014, and was facing charges of battery and criminal damage related to the incident when he escaped from the dock at Sefton.
He was serving a five month prison sentence for those offences when he was sentenced to a further 12 months in January 2015.
In 2019, notorious criminal Gelling killed a dad-of-two on his way home from watching the Champions League final. He formed part of a "gang of about seven' who attacked dad-of-two Ventsislav Marginov, 51.
The Bulgarian native and LFC fan suffered a fractured skull from the brutal attack and was put on a life-support machine, but died on June 4. Gelling admitted manslaughter and was jailed for six years, with an extended four years on licence.
In August 2021, Gelling was jailed for eight years for conspiring to supply cocaine as part of a gang who dominated Southport's cocaine supply.
READ NEXT:
Girl, 4, dies of sepsis following 'missed opportunities'
Warning to anyone who has left over Baileys
Married couple found dead at home as police search for family
Police plea to 'scared' mum with newborn who are both missing
