A BRADFORD man who used bolt cutters to remove handcuffs from a burglar on the run was identified and arrested months later, a court heard.

When he was caught Hamas Khan was hanging from the balcony of a top-floor flat wearing just his underwear and a cap.

Prosecutor Victoria Barker told Bradford Crown Court that a man in handcuffs managed to run away from police on October 6 last year whilst he was at Bradford Royal Infirmary after being arrested at his home for burglary.

The following day a WhatsApp video was sent to the police showing Khan, now 25, in the driver’s seat of a car and the handcuffed man in the rear.

Khan was attempting to cut off the handcuffs with bolt cutters and was heard to be shouting, “f*** the police!”

Khan and the handcuffed man were both positively identified from the video. A third male in the car could not be identified.

The runaway burglar was located on November 30 last year and, following inquiries, Khan was later located in a top-floor flat on March 20 by police who broke in after he refused to open the door.

Khan tried to escape by climbing over a barrier by patio doors and hanging approximately 50ft above the ground.

He was dressed only in his underwear and a cap.

Miss Barker said: “He refused to co-operate with the officers. Due to the circumstances and the fear of him falling, the fire brigade and the ambulance service attended. Eventually the defendant was able to climb onto the balcony below him with the assistance of officers and was arrested.”

In an interview Khan, of Priestman Street, Bradford, answered “no comment” to all questions. The court heard he had a previous conviction for conspiracy to burgle in 2019 and had received four years in a young offender’s institution.

The runaway burglar was consequently sentenced to 876 days in prison for burglary plus four months for his escape from custody.

Khan later pleaded guilty to assisting an offender.

Mitigating for Khan, Fuad Arshad said he was an “immature and impulsive” young man who had been approached by a friend and asked to assist with a man who was wearing handcuffs.

Mr Arshad added: “The young man he was with had bolt cutters in his possession but did not know how to use them. He, being a previous burglar, knows exactly how to use them.

“He did not know until he was arrested himself why [the handcuffed man] was on the run. He only knew that he was handcuffed.

“He knows that what he did was wrong.”

His Honour Judge Ahmed Nadim told Khan: “You must have known that the man you were assisting was the subject of police apprehension … from the handcuffs that had been applied to him.

“He was seeking to cut free the handcuffs.

“You were sufficiently invested in the freedom of this individual for you to go to the trouble of acquiring bolt cutters and using them for cutting this individual free.

“Certainly you must have known from your past experience with the criminal justice that this which you were doing was a serious wrong.”

Khan, who appeared via video link from HMP Leeds, was sentenced to 10 months in prison.