A fugitive ram raider is back behind bars in Britain after detectives tracked him down to his secret home in Thailand.

Dylan Taylor fled the country two days before he was due to be sentenced for a bungled raid on a cashpoint machine in which he partially demolished a shop in Devon.

He was jailed in his absence for seven and a half years at Exeter Crown Court last year but has been on the run ever since.

Police were able to track his mobile phone to the house near Bangkok where he was living with his Thai girlfriend and he gave himself up when he learned he was about to be arrested by the Thai immigration authorities.

He was flown back to Britain after three detectives from Devon and Cornwall police flew out to Thailand to bring him back.

He appeared in custody at Exeter Crown Court where Judge David Evans added an extra 16 weeks onto his sentence.

Taylor was granted bail after being convicted by a jury last May because he wrote a letter to the judge, Recorder Miss Hannah Willcocks, saying he was in emotional turmoil because his father had just died.

The letter said:”I would never disrespect the court running off.” But that was exactly what he did on June 20 last year, two days before he was due back in court.

Adding the extra time to his sentence, Judge Evans said:”You said you would never disrespect the court but then made yourself scarce and fled to Thailand when you enjoyed your freedom when you should have been in lawful custody.

“Having been singled out for deportation, the police quite rightly went to Thailand to make sure you came back and belatedly faced the music.

“Your failure to surrender was a deliberate attempt to evade justice and the sheer length of time you stayed away is a significant aggravating factor.”

Mr Tom Faulkner, prosecuting, said Taylor’s bail was extended after he was found guilty of burglary by a jury because he sent a six-page long letter to the judge promising to attend his sentence.

He fled to Bangkok two days before the hearing and the police have been trying to track him down ever since.

Mr Faulkner said:”He was picked up and escorted to Bangkok airport. The operation to bring him back cost around £6,000, not including the investigation.

“He was tracked through his use of a mobile phone which was traced to Thailand, where he had been getting on with his life. To quote the officer in the case ‘he had not been intending to return’.”

Mr Stephen Nunn, defending, said Taylor left the country in a highly emotional state and has used his time in Thailand to rehabilitate his mental and physical health.

He said:”He has been doing physical labour and doing well. Three weeks ago, by arrangement with his Thai girlfriend, he entered a deportation centre, where he has been held with hundreds of others.”

Taylor was the only one of four ram raiders who was caught for the attack on a free-standing cash machine at the Coop store in the Trago Mills complex near Newton Abbot on December 10, 2017.

He used a Mitsubishi Shogun, which he bought for £895 earlier in the day to smash through the front of the shop.

The force of the impact caused part of the roof to collapse and led to £100,000 structural damage and £40,000 loss of business at the shop.

Taylor was traced because he left traces of blood on the cashpoint machine as he tried unsuccessfully to force it open.

He has been jailed three times in the past for other ram raids, including one at the Bridgetown Post Office in Totnes on Christmas Day 2012. He had only been released from prison for that offence 25 days earlier.

Taylor, now aged 45, of Lichfield Avenue, Torquay, denied burglary but was found guilty by a jury at Exeter Crown Court.