Couldn’t he have just bought it digitally?

In November of last year, British inmate Clint Butler, 36, successfully escaped from HMP Spring Hill prison. He had been incarcerated for a 17-year sentence on theft and gun crime charges, and since his escape, British police have been on the lookout for him. Apparently, he’d been in hiding for the last few months, but recently, he finally showed himself. What was the vital factor that forced this criminal out of his hidey hole? Video games, apparently.

According to a report from the West Midlands Police released last week, Butler was spotted back in January in Birmingham city centre alongside an unidentified associate. Two police officers that happened to be on the scene, Mark Owen and Allison Brown, noticed that Butler and his friend immediately changed direction when they made eye contact with the officers. The officers stopped the two men and asked what they were doing out and about, as the town was on pandemic lockdown at the time.

“I’ve come to get the new Call Of Duty because I can’t sit around in lockdown,” the friend said.

A fugitive armed robber has landed himself back in prison after coming out of hiding to buy the new Call Of Duty game https://t.co/dmJJYCZTad

— Sky News (@SkyNews) March 5, 2021

Owen asked to see the men’s identification, at which point Butler became hostile, kicking him down south. Brown, along with some nearby security officers, immediately tackled Butler to the ground and cuffed him. He attempted to give a fake name when pressed, but the officers quickly realized he was, in fact, an escaped convict. For his breakout and assaulting an officer, Butler has had an additional 19 months added to his sentence, which will keep him behind bars until around 2024.

“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,” said West Midlands Police Superintendent Nick Rowe.