AN on-the-run prisoner who was captured after a 120mph police chase in the North-East is back behind bars for dangerous driving.

Joe Lowther had been freed in September last year from a lengthy sentence for offences including robbery, kidnapping and fraud.

One of the conditions of his release on licence was that the 32-year-old should stay at Probation Service “approved premises”.

But after a dispute with another ex-con, Lowther was assaulted, put in hospital and was afraid to go back, Teesside Crown Court heard.

His disappearance put him in breach of his licence, and meant he should have gone back to prison, said prosecutor Penny Bottomley.

Instead, he was at large for five months before his arrest after the high-speed pursuit in May ended in Redcar, east Cleveland.

He drove his Volkswagen Golf on the wrong side of the A174, went around roundabouts the wrong way, and rammed a couple in another car.

At one point where the inside lane of the dual-carriageway was coned off, he approached a roundabout at speed and flew past workmen.

Jailing him for a total of 18 months, Judge Sean Morris told Lowther - whose last known address was in Stockton: “You have a bad record.”

He added: “Following your release from a long sentence, you absconded from the premises where you should have been residing.”

Kelleigh Lodge, mitigating, said Lowther was also afraid to go back to prison, where he has also had problems with others.

Miss Lodge told the court that there are some jails where he cannot go because of a war between two families of travellers.

“He has been assaulted in other prisons,” she added. “He was not just in fear of going to approved premises, but also prison.

“When he saw the police vehicle behind him, he panicked. He is very thankful that nobody was hurt as a result of this.”

Lowther, who had been on the run since December from Dovegate Prison in Uttoxeter, Staffordshire, admitted dangerous driving, driving while disqualified and having no insurance.

The court heard that he ran off when the Golf came to a halt because of a radiator problem, and was found in the Claxton Hotel in Redcar where he had been staying as a bed and breakfast customer.

Lowther, who also has an address of Pontefract Road, Castleford, West Yorkshire, was banned from driving for three years and nine months.