A teenage burglar who leapt from the dock at York Magistrates Court has been locked up for three-and-a-half years.

Security officers were locked in the courtroom when the panic button was activated as Daniel Eden fled, York Crown Court heard.

Eden, 19, was desperate to see the outside world after serving nearly half of a nine-month sentence for burgling a hotel, said his barrister, Alexandra Stewart. Sixteen days later, Eden gave himself up.

Eden, of Ladymill Garth, Clifton, pleaded guilty to escaping from custody, failure to answer police bail and a £1,075 burglary in Kingsway North.

He asked for a £4,640 burglary in Brailsford Crescent, Clifton, during which he stole war medals, to be taken into consideration.

Eden was said to have been in and out of custody since the age of 15, mostly for offences of burglary and theft.

Judge Paul Hoffman sent him to a Young Offenders' Institution for three and a half years. He reduced the sentence for the burglary because of the time he had spent in custody since being jailed for the hotel burglary.

Prosecuting, Claire Murden said he had been almost at the end of the nine-month sentence when police charged him with the Kingsway North burglary and put him before York magistrates on October 23.

As a security officer prepared to take him back to the cells at the end of the hearing "the defendant leapt over the back of the dock and made good his escape," said the barrister.

The officer slipped, injuring his wrist, ankle and shin.

In the Brailsford Crescent burglary in June 2000, he took war medals, jewellery and electrical goods.

In the smaller burglary on April 22, Eden took jewellery, computer games, a video, mobile phones and a big radio unit.

For Eden, Miss Stewart said he was a heroin addict with a £75-a-day habit.

He had expected York magistrates to bail him. When they did not allow bail, he was "fuming".

Updated: 10:24 Friday, January 12, 2001