THE security of a courthouse was being reviewed last night following the escape of a young tearaway nicknamed Spiderboy - through a six-inch gap.

Thomas Laws, 20, fled North Tyneside Magistrates' Court on Wednesday after he scaled an 8ft glass wall and squeezed through wooden bars to escape the dock.

A court official said that Home Office experts had believed the dock to be escape proof.

But after clambering up the glass wall, which is topped with wooden bars, Laws leapt down and struggled free from a court usher before running through the court complex and climbing through a canteen window.

Laws, who said he liked to be known as Spiderboy for his climbing skills, was appearing before magistrates on Wednesday with another man accused of robbery when he escaped.

He was brought into the court from the basement cells by Group Four security guards and was freed from restraints before facing the magistrates.

Spiderboy gained his notoriety after making an escape from police five years ago. He clambered onto girders above the Dove Marine Laboratory in Cullercoats, North Tyneside, and inched across a 50ft drop to flee the pursuing officers.

Northumbria Police said Laws, of William Street, North Shields, North Tyneside, was still on the run last night.

A police spokesman confirmed that two people had been arrested for assisting Laws in his escape from the court. Group Four is reviewing security.