Identity switch escaper pleads guilty

File photo / NZH

Billy Steven Cooper has admitted switching identities to escape from the Christchurch Court House.

The unemployed 19-year-old Christchurch man pleaded guilty today to using the identity of another prisoner who was being released on bail.

He got away from the court house on Monday, January 24, and was caught "without incident", according to the police, four days later.

He pleaded guilty to five charges before Judge Michael Crosbie in the Christchurch District Court today, and was remanded in custody to be sentenced on Thursday, Christchurch Court News website reported.

That sentencing had been already arranged by Judge Jane Farish to resentence him on a charge of demanding with menaces for which he had already received a term of intensive supervision.

Now he has admitted perverting the course of justice by using the other prisoner's identity, escaping from custody, unlawfully getting into a vehicle, dangerous driving and drink-driving.

A probation officer in court said the pre-sentence report's recommendation was going to be imprisonment.

"There is no question about the likely outcome," defence counsel Paul Norcross said.

- NZPA