Dean Noble 'behind bars where he belongs' after going on the run to avoid serving prison sentence
A man who went on the run to avoid jail has finally been arrested and is now ‘behind bars where he belongs’.
Dean Noble, aged 33, was arrested yesterday in the Skegness area in a coordinated operation with Lincolnshire Police.
The convicted criminal, of Worsbrough, Barnsley, was ‘wanted’ after failing to present himself to begin a custodial prison sentence for violently attacking three victims.
One victim spent many weeks in a coma and suffered a traumatic brain injury.
He was found guilty of two counts of Section 18 assault and one count of Section 47 assault at Sheffield Crown Court in July, and received a two-year suspended sentence.
Following an appeal by South Yorkshire Police under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme, the original sentence was quashed at the Court of Appeal and a new sentence of nine years in prison was imposed.
South Yorkshire Police said today that Noble was lying about his location in a bid to cover his tracks.
Detective Sergeant Rebecca Robinson, of South Yorkshire Police, said: "Since Noble failed to present himself, we have relentlessly pursued every line of enquiry and tracked the movements of Noble to ensure he would be held responsible for his behaviour.
"He is a violent individual who had already accepted full responsibility for his brutal crimes and now will face the consequences of those actions.
"Noble attempted to use social media to pretend he was in other parts of the UK - however the thorough work of the investigation team and the work of our colleagues from other forces, including Police Scotland, proved this was all a façade in a bid to avoid capture.
"During our investigation into locating Noble, we issued harbouring notices to individuals who were suspected of assisting him in evading us. Harbouring a wanted person is a criminal offence, and I want to be clear that our investigation will continue and those who are suspected of assisting Noble will be identified.
"Thank you to you, the public, who assisted in our efforts by providing vital information to direct our enquiries. I also want to thank the victims of these horrendous crimes, and their families, for their patience throughout this process and I hope they can finally find some peace in knowing Noble is now behind bars where he belongs.”