A notorious criminal who has been on the run for more than a decade has been tracked down to a remote village and arrested.
Officers referred to 42-year-old Ambrose Nicholas O’Neill as ‘The Running Man’ because of his ability to evade capture over the years, earlier today.
However, was traced to an address in Lincolnshire and has been taken into custody, NottinghamshireLive reported today.
In February 2007, O’Neill threatened a 67-year-old man in a robbery in the village of Seagrave, in Charnwood, Leicestershire.
A court later heard he knocked on the victim’s front door posing as a pizza delivery man before pushing him over and punching him in the face. He ordered his terrified victim to open his safe but left empty-handed.
O’Neill turned up for the first day of his trial at Leicester Crown Court in July 2008 but then disappeared.
The case continued in his absence and, in December 2008, he was sentenced to eight years in prison.
Officers from Leicestershire Police were looking for him, but the trail went cold.
Now 13 years later he is now behind bars after he was tracked down by Nottinghamshire Police’s Pc James Gill.
The officer picked up the case and made it his mission, sometimes working in his own time, to find and arrest O’Neill.
Recently he was also supported by another officer who works in covert local intelligence and efforts were stepped up as they homed in on their target.
Officers carried out the arrest in the early hours of today and finally got O’Neill in custody.
O’Neill has now been taken straight to prison to start his sentence and will appear before Leicester Crown Court at a date to be confirmed.
Officers also arrested a 41-year-old woman on suspicion of assisting an offender. She remains in police custody.
Pc Gill, who is based in Arnold and works on the ‘wanted squad’ which tracks down outstanding offenders, said he was extremely proud to have helped catch O’Neill.
He said: “He is known as ‘The Running Man’. We knew he had changed his appearance and lived in an area where people do not know him and he had an assumed identity.
“He was laughing at the police so we were determined to do everything to find him.
“It has taken an incredible amount of work to find him. It’s making these people know their time on the run is over.”
The major breakthrough in the case was an anonymous tip-off through Crimestoppers which suggested O’Neill may be living with a woman in the Wyberton area, near Boston, in Lincolnshire.
The information didn’t include a specific address, so the officers still faced a considerable task if they were to trace him.
He was detained today at his home in Causeway, Wyberton.
Pc Gill added: “O’Neill had been wanted for a long time and was particularly difficult to find once we received this fresh piece of intelligence we didn’t hesitate to act on it.
“I’m delighted that it paid off and that we’ve now been able to get justice for the victims of this horrific crime.”
Chief Superintendent Rob Griffin, of Nottinghamshire Police, added: “I’d like to commend the excellent work and dogged determination of our officers who went above and beyond in hunting for O’Neill and getting him arrested.
“It’s a shining example of the commitment shown by our officers to ensure criminals are brought to account and justice is delivered to victims of crime.”
