Clint Butler, 36, fled HMP Spring Hill in south-east England last November while serving a 17-year extended sentence for crimes including robbery and firearms offences.

He and a friend were stopped by police in Birmingham city centre in January. Asked where they were going, the friend said the pair were going “to get the new Call of Duty”.

When police tried to carry out identity checks, Mr Butler kicked one officer in the groin and tried to run away, but was quickly incapacitated and arrested.

He has now been jailed for 13 months for absconding from prison, and six months consecutively for assaulting the officers.

Superintendent Nick Rowe 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.”