A DRUG addict who failed to appear in court as he hid away in a caravan has been jailed.

Samuel Day, of Festival Place, Basingstoke, had absconded as he was due to stand trial in June, with three co-defendants, for his part played in the aftermath of an attack on a 37-year-old man.

Stewart Bridgman, of Levens Way, Chesterfield, Derbyshire; Kyle Heald, of Wood Park, Ludgershall and Thomas Timmins, of Turnpike Crescent, Andover, are all serving prison sentences after they admitted to inflicting grievous bodily harm in a planned attack at The Globe pub in Andover on January 9, 2017.

In Day’s appearance at Winchester Crown Court on Thursday, August 16, he was jailed for five months for failure to surrender to custody and his role in stealing the victim’s Vauxhall Vectra with Heald on the same night as the attack, which was later found “burnt out”.

He did not participate in the assault.

Defending, Janick Fielding said: “His previous period of imprisonment that in a nutshell explains why he didn’t attend when he should have done and breached his bail.

“When he went into custody he found drugs were readily available and then managed to accrue debt and then further got into debt to dealers providing drugs when he was incarcerated.

“So when he decided to plead guilty he then realised due to his crack cocaine addiction he would end up probably in a worse position than he had been previously.

“He absconded, to a motorboat home a friend owned. He went to the New Forest, secluded himself from the world to get off the drugs and cycle of drugs he had become accustomed.

“He’s not run away to escape, he’s run away to put himself in a better position and avoid the risk of taking drug issues.”

Mr Fielding added that Day was aware of his serious offending, but asked Judge Keith Cutler QC to keep the sentence “as short as reasonably possible” to decrease the risk of him becoming depressed or gripped by drugs available in custody.

In sentencing, Judge Cutler said: “I hope while you were sitting in your caravan in the New Forest you were thinking about us here in Winchester Crown Court thinking you should have been there and facing the music.

“I do understand you are 27, haven’t got an appalling record as some do by now. You can make something of yourself. For the moment I’m going to have to impose a custodial sentence.”