A MAN went on the run to Europe after being accused of sexual assault in Redditch, Worcester Crown Court was told.

Paul Buchanan was first spotted in Paris and then in Madrid, said prosecutor, Giles Nelson.

He went on to become one of Britain's most wanted fugitives before he was eventually arrested in Lisbon last year and brought back to this country.

Buchanan, 30 and of no fixed address, has been jailed for three years after pleading guilty and he was ordered register for life as a sex offender.

Mr Nelson said the first offence was in 2012, when Buchanan met a 20-year-old student, obviously drunk, walking in the street near the Mayfly.

He took her back to his flat with the pretence he would help her to find her boyfriend.

When he pushed her on the sofa and tried to strip her she ran off.

Buchanan followed her down the street and pushed her behind a hedge. He tried to have sex after he shoved her over the bonnet of a car.

He ran when householders called police.

After the incident police examined his mother's computer and found 121 indecent images.

He said he was responsible and pleaded guilty to having possession of these.

Abigail Nixon, mitigating, said Buchanan had been in custody for nine months - the equivalent of an 18-month jail sentence.

There was no suggestion that Buchanan had plied the young student with alcohol.

But Judge Nicolas Cartwright, said the ordeal suffered by the student had left her depressed and she found it difficult to trust men.

The absence of Buchanan abroad which delayed bringing the case to court had also caused her to have flashbacks.