A teenager who helped her criminal boyfriend hide from police in her bedroom cupboard is waiting to be sentenced.

Islington Gazette: Jade ClaphamJade Clapham (Image: met)

Spencer Duarte, 21, was jailed for four years today at Blackfriars Crown Court for using a stolen scooter to steal mobile phones and other valuables.

Duarte, of Dockerell Road, Stansted, was identified as a suspect through DNA tagging spray.

Following a manhunt he was found on February 5 in 18-year-old Jade Clapham’s home in Tiber Gardens, near Kings Cross.

He was arrested for stealing a motor vehicle but as he was being taken away by police, he claimed he was suffering intense abdominal pain and was taken to hospital.

When he was discharged, he broke free and went on the run for two weeks until he was found at a friend’s house in Sturmer Way.

He was arrested for escaping from lawful police custody and charged with 11 other offences, including taking a motor vehicle; seven counts of theft, disqualified driving and driving with no insurance.

He pleaded guilty and today he received four years disqualification from driving and a three year criminal behaviour order meaning he will not to be riding a two wheeled vehicle for three years and prevented from using a phone not registered to him.

Clapham pleaded guilty to assisting an offender on February 23 at the same court and will be sentenced in July.

Det Supt Lee Hill said: “This was a fantastic result, which has seen the perpetrator of audacious thefts and robberies using stolen scooters receive a lengthy time in jail.”