A “REFORMED” robber and former heroin addict returned to crime after being hit by a police car, a court heard.

Prolific criminal Andrew Ivison, of Croft Road, Marston, has been jailed for a spree of five house burglaries and attempted burglaries on January 7.

It was the first offence the 39-year-old serial offender had committed since his release from prison in February last year, having served a sentence for burglary.

But in 2006 he escaped from Spring Hill prison while serving six years for armed robbery – after telling people he was “determined” to go straight.

He now has 23 convictions for 125 offences since 1989, and in 2001 asked for a further 358 crimes to be taking into consideration.

Last Friday, Peter Du Feu, defending, told Oxford Crown Court that his client had “turned his life around” after his release.

He said Ivison was even offered a “changing life award” from the probation service and was introduced to the manager of persistent offenders as a success story.

The barrister said Ivison had been working as a construction groundworker and was off drugs when officers from Thames Valley Police arrested him in Marston Road on November 11.

Mr Du Feu said: “There was an unfortunate incident with a police car.

“They thought they wanted him for something, but as it turned out he wasn’t the person they were looking for.

“This clumsy attempt to stop him resulted in an accident, and I believe there is a dispute going on at the moment with Thames Valley Police.

“During the incident he came off his bike and injured himself quite badly, which led to him being let go from his job. He had really turned his life around.”

Ivison’s partner Joanne Gaskell said she thought the accident involving the police had been his “downfall”.

She said: “He had come so far and his licence was due to finish soon. It was just a desperate time with no money coming in. The accident with the police was his downfall, because he couldn’t get work after that.”

During the night of January 7, Ivison burgled one house in Headley Way, tried to burgle a second in the same road, targeted a third in Bowness Avenue, a fourth in Sandfield Road, and attempted to burgle a fifth in Jack Straw’s Lane.

Earlier this month a judge heard he had been reconnected with his son Kyle Chadbone, who is also a persistent offender, before the 20-year-old was himself jailed for breaching a suspended sentence and possessing cannabis.

Judge Gordon Risius said the case was “unusual” but that he couldn’t ignore the mandatory three-year sentence for three-strike burglars.

He said: “You had just lost the job that you had been aiming for for some time and that was the result of injuries you sustained when the police stopped you on your bicycle.”

He added: “It is a matter of great sadness that having made such good progress with addressing your problems, with the help of your partner, you allowed yourself to go back to your old ways.”

A Thames Valley Police spokesman confirmed that Ivison was involved in a collision with a police vehicle on November 11 last year.

He said: “It was investigated by the force’s roads policing unit, who found no wrongdoing on the part of the police officers.” He added that as the incident was subject to an insurance claim he could not comment further.