AN ARMED robber walked out of prison just six days before he was due to be released from a lengthy sentence.

James Beeston spent five months on the run abroad before his re-capture.

Beeston – who had been serving a ten-year jail sentence after being part of an armed gang who targeted commercial premises in order to steal cash and cigarettes – had a car waiting for him as he left Kirklevington Grange, near Yarm.

The 28-year-old spent a short time at his home with his wife and two children before travelling to France and then Holland, where he hoped to stay with a friend in Amsterdam.

But the law-abiding friend refused, leading Beeston into a nomadic existence where he was living rough and sleeping on acquaintances’ sofas for the next five months.

Beeston claimed to be of fear of his safety after apparently receiving threats from another prisoner and also said he wished to see his dying grandfather.

He was eventually arrested at Doncaster Airport after flying back into the UK to find detectives waiting for him.

Beeston, of Temple View Road, Leeds, admitted escaping from unlawful custody on February 13 this year.

He was due to be released midway through a sentence he received at Leeds Crown Court for conspiracy to rob in November 2013 and had been transferred to Kirklevington in readiness to be integrated back into the community.

Teesside Crown Court heard that Beeston’s wife persuaded him to give himself up and continued to stand by him.

He was now regretting his actions and “paying a heavy price”.

Judge Deborah Sherwin said there was no suggestion Beeston, who appeared via a video link to Durham Prison, was anything other than a model prisoner.

She described his actions as “total madness”.

Judge Sherwin said no violence had been used in Beeston’s escape and acknowledged he pleaded guilty at the first opportunity.

The judge said the offence could only warrant a custodial sentence and it had to be concurrent to that he was already serving.

She added six months jail time and said this would have the effect of setting back to his release date to the end of January next year.

In his original trial at Leeds Crown Court the jury was shown dramatic CCTV footage of three members of the gang raiding the Gold Shop, Dudley Hill, Bradford in May 2013.

Armed with a machete, sledgehammer and baseball bat, the trio smashed display cabinets and loaded trays of jewels into bags.

But the robbers found they could not get out, after the security shutters were activated by the shop owner.

CCTV recorded them desperately smashing at the front door and eventually causing enough damage for them to wriggle out and escape in a Volkswagen Golf car parked nearby which was later found burned out. They got away with £100,000 in jewellery and cash.