​A man who threatened to petrol bomb a Cheltenham nightclub has given himself up after going on the run from prison.

James Whitehead, 40, fled from Ford Open Prison in August 2008 while serving a jail term for threatening to torch Subtone club, in the Promenade.

Whitehead was “fed up with looking over his shoulder” after 18 months on the run, Gloucester Crown Court was told.

He said he ran because other inmates were pressurising him to hide contraband for them.

Prosecutor Derek Ryder said: “He said he had been living in London, working on building sites and spending time with his girlfriend and their children.”

Whitehead, of no fixed address, had been jailed for three years in June 2007 for the arson threat at Subtone.

The judge who sentenced him said it had been “fantastically dangerous thing to do”, adding it could have resulted in a “massive death toll”.

The court had heard the painter and decorator was ejected from the nightclub at 2am for “drink-related problems”.

He took a taxi to a petrol station where he filled up a five-litre petrol can. He returned to the club at 3am and had the petrol can in one hand and a lighter in the other hand.

The petrol spilt onto the floor and on the arm of a staff member. Staff managed to detain him and he was later arrested by police.

This week, Whitehead admitted escaping from lawful custody and was sentenced to 12 months jail to be served consecutively to his original sentence.

Mr Ryder said Whitehead had served eight months of his sentence in a conventional prison but then was moved to Ford Open Prison near Arundel in February 2008.

He said: “For six months he was getting on with his sentence but on August 11 he went missing.

“On February 19 he handed himself in.”

Defending, Carole Knotts said: “At Ford he came under pressure from others in respect of contraband and to escape that situation he left the prison rather than face the people who wanted him to conceal items.

“He has not committed any subsequent offences, to his credit.

He was working and maintaining himself and living in bed and breakfasts around the country.

“He got fed up with looking over his shoulder and that is why he turned himself in to the police last month.”

Passing sentence, Judge Martin Picton told Whitehead: “You were foolish to do what you did. The effect of what you did is that you are going to add to the length of time you spend in custody.”