A former Chipping Norton teacher who fled to Paris when he was due to appear in court over an allegation of stalking has been arrested after trying to return to this country ‘under the radar.’

Timothy Bailey, a former teacher at Kingham Hill School in Chipping Norton, was captured by the police, who had been tipped off by the Border Agency, after he landed in a small aircraft at Goodwood airfield in West Sussex.

A warrant had been issued for his arrest when he failed to appear at Warwick Crown Court in April last year.

Bailey (50) of South Moor Road, Walkeringham, Doncaster, at the time, had been due in court for a hearing on a charge of harassing a south Warwickshire woman by stalking.

Following his eventual arrest, Bailey was brought before the court and pleaded guilty to failing without reasonable excuse to surrender to custody on April 22 last year.

The stalking charge was not put to him, and the court heard he is facing new charges including fraud – by allegedly obtaining employment as a teacher when barred from teaching.

Prosecutor Simon Rippon said that after Bailey failed to turn up at the court, ‘it emerged that he was living and working in Paris.’

With the assistance of the French authorities, who helped to track him down, the process of applying for a European arrest warrant was under way – and due to be heard in Paris later this month.

But when Bailey flew back to this country in a small aircraft, landing at Goodwood airfield, the police knew he was due to land and were there to arrest him.

Asking for the Bail Act offence to be adjourned to be dealt with when the other matters Bailey faces are before the court, his barrister Nicholas Smith applied for bail.

He said Bailey had an address where he could live with his fiancée in Midlands Road, Brighton, and could be made subject to conditions including reporting to the police on a daily basis.

Of Bailey’s failure to attend court last year, Mr Smith accepted that he had been aware of the date of the hearing.

“The reason he did not attend is, he says, because he had some form of nervous breakdown, and he went to Paris to get away from his previous partner, and has been having, on and off, hospital treatment since then.

“He then put himself on a flight back to the UK, which went into Goodwood, and he was arrested by the police on being informed by the Border Agency.

“His girlfriend came back to the UK yesterday on a separate flight through the normal channels.”

But, opposing bail, Mr Rippon observed: “He returned with a small carrier, under the radar, and did not return to hand himself in, but for other reasons.”

Adjourning the case, and remanding Bailey in custody, Judge Stephen Eyre QC said: “I am not going to grant him bail. He has been at large for many months. He has contacts abroad, and his antecedents show he has an ability to be deceptive.”

Bailey, who also previously worked at Wycliffe College in Stroud, was banned from teaching for life by the General Teaching Council in January 2014.

At that time it was said he had failed to disclose he had convictions for benefit fraud when applying for work and claimed to be a registered teacher when he was serving an earlier ban imposed in 2008.