Escaped prisoner manages to get arrested again after venturing out to buy video game

A fugitive armed robber has found himself back in prison again after he came out of hiding to buy the new Call Of Duty game.

Escaped convict Clint Butler assaulted two police officers and needed to be restrained on the ground, after he was stopped in Birmingham city centre on 13 January.

He was due to be released in 2024, but fled the prison at midnight on November 28 last year, prompting a major police manhunt.

According to Bodycam footage, he kicked one officer in the groin, and punched another in the face, as he was held down by officers and security guards who arrived to assist.

Last year, he escaped HMP Spring Hill open prison, where he was serving a 17-year extended sentence for crimes including robbery and firearms offences.

Butler has now been jailed for 13 months for absconding from prison, and six months consecutively for assaulting the officers - on top of his original sentence

Eventually, the lure of the new Call of Duty video game proved too much, and he fled on a non-essential trip with a friend.

Dramatic footage shows the moment he was caught by chance by police as he was shopping in Martineau Way in Birmingham city centre.

PCs Mark Owen and Allison Brown spotted the pair changing direction when they saw the officers and immediately became suspicious.

When asked by the officers why he was in town during lockdown, Butler’s friend replied: “I’ve come to get the new Call Of Duty because I can’t sit around in lockdown.”

When Mr Owen said he would check the men’s details, Butler lashed out and whacked him in the groin, and punched Ms Brown in the face.

He was handcuffed, and gave a false name - but then officers discovered he was actually an escaped convict.

Superintendent Nick Rowe of West Midlands Police said: “Quite why he decided to risk being returned to prison by making the idiotic decision to come into town during lockdown with a friend to buy a video game will remain a bit of a mystery.”

Butler has been jailed for 13 months for absconding from prison, and six months consecutively for assaulting the officers - on top of his original sentence.

Rowe went on to praise the “great work” of the officers who had been “acting on instinct that there was something not quite right”.

He added: “The situation escalated really quickly, but both PCs put their training to good effect by restraining Butler, subduing him and getting him safely in handcuffs, while also calling for back-up from officers nearby,” he said.

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