A BARNSLEY man who went on the run from police after he was handed a nine-year prison sentence has been arrested in Skegness.
Dean Noble, from Worsbrough, violently attacked three people in May 2021, leaving them with serious injuries.
One victim spent many weeks in a coma and suffered a traumatic brain injury.
The 33-year-old 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 officers 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.
Noble was required to begin his prison sentence but has failed to present himself as instructed.
He posted on Facebook pretending that he was in Scotland but this was found to be a lie.
He was found by officers in Skegness last week.
Officers had issued three harbouring notices to individuals who they suspected to be helping Noble evade officers, and the force has confirmed they will be working to bring those people to the court as well.
Detective Sergeant Rebecca Robinson 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 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.”
