conviction of 27 months to one year after a successful appeal.

Pitt, 48, of Frolic Lane, Southampton, had several sentences reduced in the Supreme Court on Tuesday due to an error by Senior Magistrate Will Francis in May of last year.

Defence lawyer Richard Horseman said "the Crown conceded we had the correct interpretation of the law''.

Pitt had escaped Police custody in Magistrates' Court last May. He spent two weeks on the run and was the subject of a Police Task Force manhunt.

Once he was returned to court, Mr. Francis ordered three groups of sentences to run consecutively, giving a total of 27 months in jail.

Mr. Francis had sentenced Pitt to four months for escaping custody and 12 months for receiving stolen jewellery with the sentences running concurrently.

Pitt also pleaded guilty to possessing 0.139 grams of heroin and 0.112 grams of cocaine and received six and three months in prison, respectively. Those sentences were also to be served concurrently.

Pitt further pleaded guilty to possessing housebreaking equipment and received a nine-month prison sentence.

But yesterday Mr. Justice Ward ruled that the Magistrate could not impose consecutive terms for two or more offences if the aggregate of those terms exceeded 12 months.

He further ruled that Mr. Francis should have referred the case to the Supreme Court for sentencing.

Mr. Justice Ward ordered that the sentences should all run concurrently and therefore Pitt's sentence was reduced to 12 months.

However, Mr. Horseman said he expected his client, who has been in prison since last May, to be released today.