A man who read about his fine in the Evening Post came to court - and got rid of it.
Edmund Hardie was handed a hefty penalty for his involvement in a punch-up outside a night club 12 years ago.
He admitted his involvement in an attack on two brothers outside the Destiny venue in Beach Road, Weston-super-Mare, in October 2008.
The 61-year-old, formerly of Monkton Avenue in Weston-super-Mare, was due to be sentenced in 2009.
But last month Bristol Crown Court heard he failed to attend and remained at large.
At the time Judge Martin Picton said: "This was an ugly incident on a night out in Weston-super-Mare.
"The defendant is unrepresented.
"I can see no reason why the case should be delayed."
The judge, who was not able to pass a suspended jail term on an absent defendant, fined Hardie £2,000.
Having read a report of proceedings in the Post Hardie, who has returned to Bristol after living and working in Spain, handed himself in to police.
On February 21 he appeared before Judge Picton and applied for a suspended jail term, which was handed to other men involved in the affray.
Judge Picton considered the application in a ten-minute hearing at Gloucester Crown Court today. (February 27)
He rescinded the fine and replaced it with 150 hours of unpaid work, with £100 prosecution costs.
Earlier Hardie told Bristol Live he had been trying to clarify his situation for years, without success, while abroad.
He said: "If I hadn't read about it in the Bristol Post I wouldn't have known.
"I want a suspended sentence rather than a fine.
"I'm 61 and I've not been in trouble since then.
"The way I see it is, why put more of a financial burden on me?"
Earlier Julian Howells, prosecuting, said the violent incident was initially charged as violent disorder but was then amended to affray.
Two other men who admitted affray were handed suspended jail terms by Judge Carol Hagen in 2009.
