B. To depart secretly or suddenly, especially to avoid arrest, prosecution or service of process.
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to pronunciationLegal Definition -
1. To depart secretly or suddenly, especially to avoid arrest, prosecution or service of process.
2. To leave a place, usually hurriedly, with another's money or property.
Black's Law Dictionary® Eighth Edition © 2004
Current Usage
On the farm and in the library: what the NatWest Three do in British prisons
Times Online January 22, 2009
The “NatWest Three” bankers - transferred to British jails after their £3.5m Enron-related fraud conviction in the US - are being held in open prisons where they are working on the farm and in the library.
And Gary Mulgrew, David Bermingham and Giles Darby are likely to serve a total of just 18 months in prison instead of the 37 months imposed by the American court because they can take advantage of Britain’s early release arrangements.
The trio are now expected to be released from open jails in November this year - one year after they were quietly transferred back to the UK. In the United States, they would have served the full 37 months with no remission, meaning they would have stayed in prison until 2011. They are also eligible for two other early release schemes introduced to deal with jail overcrowding.
It emerged today that Mulgrew and Bermingham are in Ford open jail near Arundel, in West Sussex, and Darby is in Leyhill open prison, in Gloucestershire. Bermingham is working between two and three hours a day in the prison library and, until his recent move to Leyhill, Darby was working on the farm at Ford.
Friends of Bermingham’s wife, Emma, said she was delighted that he is now back in Britain, as it had made things much easier for her and their family. The wife of Darby did not wish to comment.
Although their transfer to open prisons is likely to renew the charge that white-collar criminals avoid tough jails, prison authorities say that they are ideal candiates as they pose no risk to the public and nor are they likely to abscond.
Previous white-collar criminals at Ford include George Best, Lord Brocket and Darius Guppy, Earl Spencer’s one time friend. Ernest Saunders, Gerald Ronson and Anthony Parnes, jailed for their part in the 1986 illegal Guinness share support scheme also spent time at the jail.
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