Manhunt underway for defendant who smashed his way out of court after being sentenced to jail

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Police are still looking for a man who has been on the run for 17 days since he fled a crown court dock upon hearing he would be jailed for dangerous driving.

Nathan Oloyowang, 22, appeared at Wood Green Crown Court, north London, on 4 June to be sentenced.

Moments after the judge declared he would spend 10 months behind bars, Oloyowang smashed his way through a perspex screen and sprinted out of the court building.

Security guards tried, and failed, to catch up with him – one even suffered a hand injury trying to detain the defendant after he climbed out of the dock and ran down three flights of stairs.

Scotland Yard on Monday appealed for help from the public to catch Oloyowang, as it nears three weeks since he escaped.

“On Friday 4 June at about 3.30pm … a 22-year-old man was sentenced to ten months in prison for dangerous driving,” Metropolitan Police said earlier.

“On receiving the custodial sentence, he climbed out of the dock and in the course of the incident the dock perspex was broken and a member of court security received slight injuries to his hand. The man then made off from the court.”

A Serco spokesman added: “Following sentencing, a prisoner escaped from the insecure dock at Wood Green Court last Friday afternoon, scaling the dock and breaking the glass in the process.”

Oloyowang lives in the NW3 area of Camden, also in north London, and is described as being black, 6ft 1in tall, with a heavy build and short dark hair.

“He was clean shaven when he was last seen,” the Met added, before advising anyone who might see him not to approach him directly, but to call 999.

Oloyowang was convicted of dangerously driving a grey VW Passat through Euston in March 2019.

His trial concluded in late March and he was due to be sentenced by recorder Ms Jennifer Newcomb on 4 June, which is when he escaped from the dock in court seven.

Oloyowang’s escape is not the first to occur at Wood Green Crown Court this year – though it is currently the only successful one.

In January, another dangerous driver, 19-year-old Marian Vasilica Dragoi, launched his own escape bid from the dock in court nine.

After being jailed for 46 weeks by Judge Andrew Holmes, Dragoi leapt over a chest-high barrier and made it down four flights of stairs before he was apprehended by guards who spotted him approaching on CCTV.