A violent criminal fled prison to spend a weekend in Skegness with his girlfriend.
Luke Harvey, 30, put a dummy in his bed before scaling a 10ft wall, a court heard.
Partner Hannah Smith was waiting for him in a car outside HMP Sudbury, Derbyshire, in August last year.
They went to the Lincolnshire seaside resort after he told her he was due back at prison on the Monday morning.
But he was on the run for eight days and was caught when Smith, 30, was pulled over on the M6 near her Birmingham home.
At Derby Crown Court, Smith – who is no longer with Harvey – admitted harbouring a criminal.
Mark Achurch, prosecuting, said: “Security doing 10pm checks realised Mr Harvey had used an improvised dummy. CCTV showed him scaling the fence.”
Smith got six months, suspended for two years, plus 150 hours’ unpaid work.
Harvey, jailed for 12 years in 2014 for violent robbery, got an extra 10 months at Warwick Crown Court last October.
Judge Shaun Smith QC told Smith: “Had you harboured him secretly, you would be going to immediate custody.
"But you did realise he was an escapee and could have told police.”
