British prison escapee caught because he went out to buy Call of Duty

After escaping Spring Hill Prison in Buckinghamshire on November 28 last year, Clint Butler, who was serving a 17-year sentence for crimes including robbery and firearms offences, laid low successfully until he left the house with a friend to score a copy of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War.

Butler was stopped by police on the street in Birmingham and asked why he was out during a pandemic, and replied: "I've come to get the new Call of Duty because I can't sit around in lockdown." While one of the officers explained that Butler and his companion had been stopped because they clearly turned around and tried to walk away after seeing the police, Butler kicked the officer and attempted to flee. As video of the event posted by West Midlands Police shows, he immediately fell over and was accosted.

Butler has since returned to prison, with an extra 13 months added to his sentence for the escape, and six months for assaulting the police. According to Birmingham Police Superintendent Nick Rowe, "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."

Cheers, Kotaku.

Jody Macgregor
Weekend/AU Editor

Jody's first computer was a Commodore 64, so he re having to use a code wheel to play Pool of Radiance. A former music journalist who interviewed everyone from Giorgio Moroder to Trent Reznor, Jody also co-hosted Australia's first radio show about videogames, how weird Lost Ark can get. Jody edited PC Gamer Indie from 2017 to 2018, and he eventually lived up to his promise to play every Warhammer videogame.