Top Valley man fled UK for new life in Bahamas before capture 10 years later

Jake Brogan admitted battering his victim over the head with a metal truncheon in October 2012, but failed to turn up to be sentenced at Nottingham Crown Court.

Matthew Smith, his barrister, said Brogan, now aged 43, skipped the country instead to work as an olive-picker in Greece, before meeting his now-wife while working in Malta.

They started a family and set up a charter boat business in the Bahamas, but he was jailed last year for six months for overstaying after his visa lapsed.

Brogan endured “brutal conditions”, while sharing a cell with six other inmates and only getting one hour of exercise per week.

Mr Smith said that, two days after his release in October, last year, he was returned to the UK and has remained in custody ever since.

“He hasn't seen his wife and daughter for nine months,” he added.

Lucy Jones, prosecuting, said Brogan had appeared at the door of his hostel room in Nottingham, stark-naked, and clubbed his victim over the head, causing lacerations that needed to be glued, on June 8, 2012.

"It was a deliberate attempt to evade or delay justice," she said.

Mr Smith said: "He is the first to recognise this could have had far more serious consequences."

He told Nottingham Crown Court Brogan had been leading an ‘itinerant life’ with alcohol-issues and an Asperger's diagnosis.

"He was still dealing with mental health problems at the time," Mr Smith said. "He would describe himself as a completely different person now. He has found focus, a stable relationship and work he is committed to."

Mr Smith said Brogan has been working on a business plan while in custody and hopes to retain his boat, which is also the family home.

Brogan, formerly of Bestwood Park Drive West, admitted breaching bail conditions.

Jailing him for a total of 12 months, Judge Nirmal Shant KC, Honorary Recorder for Derby, said Brogan “had a bad record for violence” before he left the UK, but noted the changes he has made in his life.