A JUDGE has urged the police to “look hard” for a convicted robber who jumped bail and failed to attend his trial.

Mark Calvert was yesterday found guilty in his absence of snatching a purse from a children’s community nurse in Ransdale Road, Marshfields, Bradford, on April 26.

A warrant not backed for bail was issued for Calvert, 38, of Hawkshead Close, Little Horton, Bradford, before the start of the trial at Bradford Crown Court.

The jury was told by Judge Jonathan Rose not to speculate about why he was not in court during the case.

Prosecutor Ben Thomas said the nurse, in her 50s, was robbed of her purse by Calvert as she sat in her car consulting a street map on her way to her next professional visit.

He opened the passenger door and tried to seize her handbag but when she screamed and held on to it, he grabbed her purse from inside it and fled.

He was chased and caught by two men who witnessed the robbery.

They retrieved the stolen purse, flung down by Calvert as he tried to escape, and handed it in at the police station.

The men released Calvert, who was weeping and pleading with them to let him go, after taking a photograph of him to show the police.

Calvert told arresting officers he knew nothing of a robbery and had been chased for no reason.

He said the men let him go because they had the wrong person, not because they felt sorry for him.

The nurse was left shaken, shocked and tearful after the robbery, the jury was told.

Ten pounds had been stolen from her purse.

After the jurors’ unanimous guilty verdict, Judge Rose told them Calvert had “chosen to absent himself” from his trial.

He would be sentenced after he was apprehended, both for the robbery and for the Bail Act offence.

Judge Rose urged the police to find Calvert, whom he said would receive a consecutive sentence for jumping bail and failing to attend his trial.

Anyone with any information about Mark Calvert’s whereabouts is asked to contact West Yorkshire Police via 101 quoting reference 131601778131 or alternatively call independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.