British judge tackles escaping prisoner

By: Bailey Johnson
Topics: Daily Blotter

Judges from the Royal Courts of Justice move through the rain to Parliament Oct. 1, 2010, in London.

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(CBS) - They do things a little differently in England. For one, the judges all wear robes and powdered wigs. They also know how to lay down the law personally, as one prisoner reportedly discovered when he was tackled by a judge while trying to escape from court.

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"The jury were just leaving when the defendant jumped up and ran across the clerk's bench to get to the judge's door," prosecutor Rupert Gregory told Reuters.

"As he went through the door, his honor Judge Marks Moore grabbed him round the throat to try to bring him down." Gregory continued. Judge Douglas Marks Moore, for the record, is 60-years-old; the defendant, named Paul Reid, is 34-years-old.

The defendant, who had been convicted of a sex offense, broke free from his honor's grip and ran down a hallway. With no one else to give chase, Moore sprinted after him.

"Just s Mr Reid was about to open a push-handle fire door," Gregory told Reuters, "Marks

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Moore rugby-tackled him around the throat and waist and brought him crashing to the ground, landing on top of him."

Reid had pulled a similar stunt two years earlier, that time successfully escaping from court. Clearly Judge Marks Moore was not on the bench that day.

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