A compulsive burglar, locked up for nine months with hard labour at Winchester Jail, was only two weeks into his sentence when he left a warder on night duty so disabled he never worked again.

Johann Witer, 38, had escaped from his cell after weakening the bolt on the door with a piece of iron and prising it open with a table leg he had fashioned into a lever. He then grabbed a ladder to scale the perimeter wall and clamber to freedom on scaffolding lodged against it for repairs.

A judge was so shocked after his recapture he summoned the prison governor to court for an explanation. He was told the first indication of the escape was the fire alarm being activated by a warder who saw a window at the end of the main corridor had been smashed. The prison was searched and in the stockhole, warder Marshall Wright was discovered unconscious, bleeding heavily from a head wound.

Witer, a Belgian waiter, had slipped into the basement via a spiral staircase when he was suddenly confronted by Wright who he ruthlessly felled with a vicious blow to the head with an iron rake which rendered him unconscious for two days.

A hue and cry immediately began but Witer had slipped away into the darkness and nothing was seen or heard of him for three days, but then reports began emerging of a series of burglaries north of Winchester that bore the hallmarks of his modus operandi - cutting away a portion of glass in a window before putting his hand through to release the catch to gain access.

The pattern of offending showed Witer was slowly heading towards Andover, the first break-in occurring at Northington, where two isolated cottages on the Grange estate had been targeted principally for  change of clothing. The trail then led to Bullington and Leckford where police intensified their search in woodland.

Miter's recapture was swift. Officers had just begun scouring a copse when one saw a figure suddenly move near a hedge. He blew his whistle to alert colleagues and as they closed in, Witer desperately tried to flee but was brought down by a sergeant after a 60 yard chase and handcuffed.

"Are you, Witer?" he demanded. The Belgian did not prevaricate. "Yes, that's right," he muttered.

The news brought hundreds of people converging on Andover in the desperate hope of seeing the fugitive being brought before magistrates but they were to be disappointed. The waiter was remanded in custody at the police station and transported back to his cell.

Witer appeared at Hampshire Assizes on July 5, 1909, ten weeks after his audacious bid for freedom. He immediately acknowledged one count of escaping from jail and seven others of burglary but denied wounding Wright with intent to murder. 

Read more:

His defence was thin, claiming he had only gone to the basement to get the iron rake to smash a window when Wright tried to detain him.

"If I had known he was there, I would not have come out of my cell," he said. "If I had intended to kill him, I would have taken something from my cell as there was plenty there."

Jurors deliberated for a few minutes before delivering the inevitable verdict.

Jailing him for ten years, Mr Justice Channell told him: "A severe sentence is necessary because people who have a duty to perform must be protected, and those who inflicting injuries on them should be severely punished."