OSKAR Pawlowichz was one of Britain’s most wanted men with a price on his head while living rough in Leominster.

Last week, the 29-year-old admitted his part in a brutal burglary as one of a masked gang that raided a London home to beat the owner so badly he needed facial reconstruction surgery.

The hunt for Pawlowichz ended on Leominster’s Bridge Street sports ground where an arrest team from the Metropolitan Police team had located him living rough.

Pawlowichz was known to police in the county having come here from his native Tarnow, south-eastern Poland, in 2008 as a farmworker.

Six foot, stocky and distinctively bow-legged with a limp, Pawlowichz was living at a flat in Broad Street, Bromyard, when arrested repeatedly for affray and assault offences.

But, by this year, he was “off the radar” to local police having faced a series of exposure charges.

In August, Met detectives had strong evidence linking Pawlowichz to a masked gang that forced their way into the £2 million home of law lecturer Paul Kohler in Wimbledon.

Images of his serious facial injuries made news headlines.

Another image showed Pawlowichz on CCTV taking off gloves and walking quickly through a car park close to the scene of the brutal attack.

Detective Inspector Martyn Barnes, of Herefordshire CID, said Met colleagues asked for intelligence on links and associates Pawlowichz – by then with a £5,000 reward on his head – still had in the county.

Pawlowichz was recognised as sleeping rough at Leominster’s Bridge Street sports park.

At Kingston Crown Court, Pawlowichz admitted aggravated burglary.

Three other men admitted aggravated burglary and serious assault and will be sentenced next month.