Dutch police arrest killer on run

12 April 2012

A convicted murderer who was on the run for more than 10 years has been arrested in Holland, police said.

James Hurley was serving life for the murder of off-duty Pc Frank Mason during a bungled security van raid in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, in 1988. He escaped while he was being moved to Wandsworth Prison in south London by bus in 1994.

Hurley, 45, was arrested by Dutch police investigating a suspected drugs factory in The Hague on November 9.

Pc Mason's widow, Jill, said: "I am really pleased to hear the news that Hurley has been caught. It doesn't bring Francis back, but Hurley needs to serve time for the crime he committed."

Officers from the Metropolitan Police, Hertfordshire Constabulary and other enforcement agencies have struggled to trace Hurley in the 13 years since his escape.

In 2004 Scotland Yard issued a digitally-aged picture of Hurley, and offered a £10,000 reward for information leading to his capture.

He fled after using a knife to slash the face of a prison guard as he was being transported between prisons on a coach hired from a private firm.

At the time, the Prisons Service came in for heavy criticism for using a private company to transport dangerous prisoners.

Detective Chief Inspector Paul Maghie, from Hertfordshire Constabulary, said: "The force still feels the loss of Pc Francis Mason, who selflessly gave his life intervening during this robbery.

"We have been ruthlessly pursuing Hurley for many years and would like to take this opportunity to extend our sincere gratitude to the Dutch police."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in