Taking No Chances With Their Own Safety….

After yesterday's verdict, Leicester Crown Court was told Lawrence, 18, of no fixed address, had twice escaped from detention centres while he was waiting to go on trial.

Once is an accident, twice is carelessness….

Judge Michael Pert QC said: "You are, on the face of it, a very dangerous young man.

"I'm not looking at anything other than a substantial custodial sentence."

Lawrence was on remand for the attempted rape when he first escaped from a young offender institute in Wetherby, West Yorkshire, on October 3 last year.

And did they learn from that? No. Of course not.

On October 21, he broke out of Hindley Young Offenders' Institute, near Wigan, and was apprehended in Birmingham three days later.

His escapes were described by Judge Pert as: "The stuff of movies."

He sounds almost….approving, doesn’t he? And he’s not the only one.

Felicity Gerry, prosecuting, told the court: "He's very daring. It involved him leaping wall-to-wall, going over razor-wires, stealing cars and hiding in car boots."

And I notice that, when it came to their own safety, they weren’t quite as cavalier as when it was just the public at risk.

When Lawrence gave evidence, up to 15 guards and police were deployed inside and outside the court room. In the secure, fully glass-screened dock Lawrence was flanked by five security officers.

Would that we could all have such reassurance…