A BURGLAR whose bids to keep his freedom have included climbing out of a court dock and driving a stolen car on the pavement, has been given another lengthy jail term.

Mark Anthony Ainsley began breaking in to homes when he was 16, York Crown Court heard.

After police linked him to his latest raids through shoeprints and telephone records, he skipped bail on the day he should have stood trial.

But he was arrested on a warrant and sent before a jury in custody, who convicted him of a burglary in Alma Terrace, Fulford where he had stolen a £10,000 Audi car.

He was also convicted of a burglary at the Jaipur Spice restaurant in Haxby Road, in which the staff’s wages and a day’s takings were stolen. Both took place on December 12.

As four dock officers stood round him in a secure dock, Recorder Jamie Hill QC jailed him for four-and-a-half years and told him the raids were planned and efficiently carried out.

The judge said: “There is little or no mitigation.”

Last Christmas Eve, Ainsley climbed out of a secure dock at York Magistrates Court as he was being remanded on charges of violence, but was caught by court clerk Julian Cundiff before he could get out of the building.

In 2010, when police spotted him driving a car stolen in a burglary, he escaped by driving on the pavement. He was later arrested because trainers found in his possession matched those used in two burglaries at Knapton. He skipped bail on the day he should have stood trial for those raids, but was arrested on a warrant and jailed for three years.

In his latest case, Ainsley, 25, of Burton Stone Lane, Clifton, denied both the 2013 burglaries and the Audi theft, but did not dispute any of the prosecution evidence against him. He claimed the shoes which he was wearing when arrested for the 2013 raids and which left marks at both scenes belonged to a friend of his and that the phone linked to all three crimes belonged to his father.

But the jury heard that his family told police the phone belonged to Ainsley when he was arrested fleeing out the back door of their home as officers walked in the front on December 22. The jury were not told that a lengthy delay before Ainsley’s evidence was because he wanted to give evidence from the dock as he “felt safer” there, according to his barrister Alex Menary. At the time, he was in a non-secure dock.

When that request was turned down, he applied to give evidence via TV link from a separate room and produced details from prison that he had received mental health treatment there. He eventually went into the witness box and gave evidence without any obvious problems. Because of his previous history of breaking into people’s houses, the judge had to impose a minimum sentence of three years.

During the incident on Christmas Eve last year, Ainsley jumped the dock and fled, only to be tackled to the floor and prevented from leaving by quick-thinking court clerk Mr Cundiff, before being arrested and remanded into custody.

Judge Shaun Spencer QC said at the time: “Mr Cundiff will receive the court’s commendation for his actions and I ask that his conduct be brought to the attention of the Chief Constable and to the High Sheriff of North Yorkshire and to the authority of the city of York.”

Mr Cundiff said: “I’m very honoured to have that, having worked in the courts since 1980. To have commendation from a judge is a great honour. I have never heard of anything like that. I just put my arms round him and just kept him on the floor like a bear hug until G4 and our security staff arrived. It was only 30 seconds to a minute. He was then taken back to the cells and I just straightened my tie and resumed with court duty.”