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Prisoner pays for trip home

From the Abingdon Herald, first published Thursday 27th Jul 2006.

A PRISONER who walked out of jail and visited his family, but then handed himself in three days later, has been given an extra two months inside.

Prosecutor Sophie Eloquin told Oxford Crown Court on Monday that James Pearson, of High Street, Culham, walked out of Leyhill Open Prison in Gloucestershire on June 22 after being caught by staff with two mobile phones, which are banned under prison rules.

He hitchhiked back to Didcot to see his girlfriend and three children, then handed himself in at Abingdon police station on June 25.

Pearson was serving a three-and-a-half-year sentence for burglary, taking a motor vehicle, and driving without insurance while unqualified.

Timothy Banks, defending, said Pearson was upset because he had been told he would be moved further away from his family after being caught with the phones, which he was using to speak to his girlfriend. He described his client's decision to walk out as "an error of judgment in the extreme".

He added: "This is a young man who realised he had a long prison sentence to do and set about doing his utmost to get himself a decategorisation.

"He hoped to go to Spring Hill (another open prison, in Buckinghamshire) so he could get some work and start building for his future."

Judge Anthony King sentenced Pearson to an extra two months in jail 14 days more than armed robber Andy Ivison, who escaped from Spring Hill Prison in June, sparking a police hunt, and was given 42 extra days on his six-year sentence.

Mr King told Pearson: "The best that can be said for you is, whatever your motive was, you quickly handed yourself in and pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity."

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