Havant man who escaped from police custody after ‘taking umbrage at being arrested’ is jailed

Alexander Ford-Ellis, 28, was indignant after police sought to detain him at Stoneham Lane, Eastleigh, on April 10 amid reports of farm machinery thefts. As an officer spotted Ford-Ellis, he opted to run away.

Portsmouth Crown Court was shown bodyworn footage of PC Sohal giving chase through a wooded area, with him shouting at the defendant to ‘stay there and you won’t get tasered’. But nimble Ford-Ellis decided to flee – with him seen running off amid further shouts of ‘stay there now’.

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The officer finally hunts down Ford-Ellis, of Middle Park Way, on a bridge. ‘What were you running for?’ PC Sohal said, before the defendant responded: ‘I haven’t done anything.’ No charges were brought for farm machine thefts.

With the capture seemingly complete as the officer prepares to handcuff Ford-Ellis, the defendant suddenly takes his jumper off and runs away again. ‘He got away from me,’ PC Sohal, speaking into his radio, said before giving chase.

But the out of breath officer then abandons the pursuit after losing Ford-Ellis. ‘The officer tries seeking (Ford-Ellis) and returns to his colleague when he can’t (find him),’ prosecutor Rob Harding said.

The court heard in mitigation that Ford-Ellis ‘took umbrage at being arrested but should not have run away from a police officer’ before he was finally caught. Ford-Ellis, who admitted a charge of escape and a charge of failing to surrender, was already facing jail for being in breach of a previous suspended sentence order. He had been placed in custody at Winchester Prison ahead of his sentence, which he described as ‘disgusting and despicable’ with ‘life there intolerable’ due to the conditions.

Judge Richard Shepherd told Ford-Ellis of the ‘strict’ rules to impose a jail term when someone offends while on a suspended sentence – unless it is unjust. ‘Nothing has been presented to me to suggest it would be unjust (to activate the suspended sentence),’ he said.

Describing the incident, the judge said: ‘The officer got hold of (Ford-Ellis) and he got away.’ Despite accepting Ford-Ellis was ‘genuine’ in his belief he had done nothing wrong, judge Shepherd jailed the defendant for 10 months.