ONE of Colchester’s most prolific offenders is finally behind bars after two years on the run.

Notorious thug Danny Beddoes, 21, of Regents Close, Colchester, has been jailed for two years and two months for aggravated burglary, assault and attempted burglary.

Beddoes battered a man with a baseball bat during a break-in in Chinook, Colchester, in November 2009.

He avoided arrest for more than two years, despite his name regularly appearing as a suspect in other burglaries.

In August 2010, he was named as one of Colchester’s ten most wanted men. He was finally tracked down and arrested in Mersea Road, in October 2011, by Colchester’s specialist neighbourhood enforcement team.

Beddoes was jailed yesterday after he appeared at Chelmsford Crown Court.

Sgt Steve Scott-Haynes, who led the manhunt, said it was a drawn-out operation that involved covert techniques.

He said: “It is an excellent result and I am really pleased after a long operation.”

“While he was on the run, we cannot say for definite, but we suspect he was one of the people involved in many more crimes.

“It was a team effort. The information we got from the neighbourhood policing team in the north of Colchester, lots of work by the PCSOs and everyone working together to build up the intelligence is what ultimately brought him down.”

Sgt Scott-Haynes was named Colchester’s top thief-catcher for 2011 by the Colchester Association for the Protection of Property.

He said the capture of Beddoes was the highlight of the year.

A spokesman for Essex Police, speaking after Beddoes was sentenced, said: “Beddoes is one of the force’s most prolific offenders and had been wanted by officers from Colchester for two years before they finally arrested him.

“Today’s sentence is great news for us and even better news for the residents of Colchester.”