Owing to his recusancy he was arrested more than once. He often had to change his home and his school to avoid fines and imprisonment. Finally in 1579 he was arrested by the Vicar of Wrexham, a former Catholic who had conformed to Anglicanism, and confined to prisoner in Ruthin gaol, where he was offered liberty if he would conform. He escaped and remained a fugitive for a year and a half, was recaptured, and spent the next four years in one prison after another.