FUGITIVE Brett Lill was on the run today from the life sentence he faces after he was found guilty of viciously assaulting a York doorman.

Police believe Lill, 33, who has not been seen since he vaulted the dock at York Crown Court and escaped earlier this year, may have fled overseas.

They have warned members of the public not to approach him, but to call police immediately.

The former resident of Cherry Street, Clementhorpe, York, faces a life sentence after a jury heard how he bit the doorman's ear and kicked and punched two police officers.

They were told that an officer sprayed CS gas directly into Lill's face in a last ditch attempt to subdue him during the ensuing struggle with three door staff and two police officers.

Lill will be sent to prison for life when he is tracked down because the attack was his second "serious" offence.

He was sentenced to five years in jail after a savage bar attack that left a man needing 46 stitches to a head wound in 2000.

Remarkably, Lill is the grandson of double child killer Margaret Wiggins, formerly of Ascot Way, Acomb, who drowned her grand-daughter and son in North Yorkshire rivers.

Wiggins was sent to Broadmoor maximum security hospital in 1974 after she admitted killing her five-month-old granddaughter by dropping her in the River Derwent at Malton.

In February 1958, she was found guilty of the murder of her seven-year-old son, but was declared insane. She drowned him in the River Ouse in York.

The Honorary Recorder of York Judge Paul Hoffman said Lill faced an automatic" life sentence after his conviction in 2000 for wounding with intent.

He said: "One day we will catch him. I couldn't understand why he had been bailed. I've never seen anything like it. He just vaulted out of the dock."

Court staff said Lill was only the second person to make a run from York Crown Court in the past 26 years.

Part-time doorman Alistair Farrow told the court how he was attacked by Lill after racing to help a colleague throw him out of the Judges Lodgings Hotel in Lendal.

As they struggled with him outside witnesses described how Lill bit Mr Farrow's ear. It caused a "flap-like" injury from top to bottom. It was later glued back together by hospital staff.

PCs David Clarke and Chris Scott then arrived, but as they attempted to arrest Lill he continued the frenzied attack, snapping at both men with his teeth and shouting "I'll bite you too", said Simon Keeley, prosecuting.

A North Yorkshire Police spokesman said: "This man could be dangerous and we warn the public not to approach him. If they see him they should phone us immediately on 0845 60 60 24 7."

Updated: 12:34 Saturday, August 13, 2005