A MAN'S escape to freedom from an open prison was brought to an abrupt end when he crashed a car into a dry stone wall near Blackburn.

Andrew Helm was seen limping, with a bleeding hand, his trousers soaking and covered in grass. It turned out that he had taken the Vauxhall Astra without permission before it was written off in the accident at Mellor.

Helm, 33, of no fixed address, was given nearly 10 months prison by a Preston Crown Court judge, to be added to the sentence he is already serving. He had pleaded guilty to escaping lawful custody, aggravated vehicle taking and not having a driving licence or insurance.

David Pojur, prosecuting, said Helm had been sentenced at Burnley Crown Court to 18 months in prison for shoplifting and breach of court orders.

On April 30 this year he left an open prison near Wetherby in Yorkshire. Some time later he took a Vauxhall Astra car from outside a home two miles from the prison.

At 4am on May 10 the screeching of tyres was heard, then a loud bang from outside homes in Mellor Lane, Mellor. One person looked outside to see the car embedded in a dry stone wall. The Astra was written off.

Police went to the scene, where Helm was spotted limping away. One of his hands was bleeding, he was perspiring heavily and had minor facial injuries. He claimed "I've been rabbiting with my mate".

Tim Ashmole, defending, said the ill-health of the defendant's grandparents at the time resulted in him wanting to get to see them. But he wasn't able to see them before they died.

The judge, Recorder Ray Herman, told Helm: "Until you make genuine efforts to come to address your drug-taking problems you are simply going to be in and out of prison."

Helm was also banned from driving for 18 months.