A MAN who fled justice for his involvement with a gang who blinded their victims with ammonia has been tracked down and jailed.

Alex Williams failed to appear in court for sentencing on November 24 last year and was given a 20-month prison term in his absence.

The judge issued a warrant for his arrest and the 22-year-old, of Masterson Close, Christchurch, was picked up by police in his home town on Sunday.

Today he was returned to Bournemouth Crown Court and told he would serve an additional two months imprisonment for absconding.

During the trial the court had heard Williams chased a man with a metal pole making threats to kill in Purewell in early November 2014. He was with Joe Warne, 21, and Reece Watkins, 22, who had already thrown ammonia over their victim.

In total, five men were convicted last year of various offences connected with the attacks including conspiracy to rob and possession of imitation firearms. Along with Williams, Warne was sentenced to 20 years in prison, Watkins to 18 years, Dominic Barker, 20, to 16 years and Piers Fox-Havilland, 19, to 12 years.

During the trial the court heard Warne and Barker, both of Brighton Road in Lewes, Watkins, of Vallance Road in North London, and Fox-Havilland, of Grosvenor Place in Margate, had stormed into a flat in Palmerston Road, Boscombe, to search for drugs on on October 18, 2014.

They were armed with weapons and ammonia stored in Lucozade bottles, and Watkins threw ammonia into the face of a 19-year-old man who had been visiting the flat at the time.

On another occasion in Somerford Road, Christchurch, a month later, Warne threw ammonia in the face of a 20-year-old man in a dispute over a girlfriend.

Both these victims were left permanently blinded in one eye.

The court also sentenced Fox-Havilland for possession of several bottles of ammonia and a knife in London on October 21, 2014, Watkins and Warne for attempting to rob a student on a train in Christchurch on November 10, 2014, and Warne for intimidating a witness on November 23, 2014, and an assault in Stour Road in Christchurch on January 11, 2015.