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Dispatches - Season Episode 4 - Hunting Britain's Fugitives
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00:10Britain's justice system is creaking at the seams.
00:13Literally, the prison is packed out, so he wants to be on and off for like two, three years.
00:17In this new investigation, Dispatches reveals an unprecedented rise in British criminals,
00:24many of them violent, skipping court and going on the run.
00:28And yeah, they gave me bail, didn't they? The absolute wallies. Yeah, I booted off.
00:34Why do a growing number of fugitives think justice is now optional? And why are they not being caught?
00:41And were they happy with that? They said, yeah, sure, see you in a few years?
00:45Yes.
00:46We've traveled the world.
00:47Do you know this guy? He used to come to this bar.
00:49From safe houses in North London.
00:51They won't find me. They won't give up, yeah.
00:54To a booming fugitive underworld in Thailand.
00:56If I've stopped their note of things, I'll always say yes.
00:59Except for going to trial.
01:01And an undercover sting in North Cyprus on one of the National Crime Agency's top targets.
01:07All right, I'll come find you.
01:08Go, go, go, go, go.
01:11To meet the brazen criminals on the run.
01:14Wait, that's him. That's literally him.
01:17Who are making a mockery of the UK's justice system.
01:20It continues to hang over us.
01:21I can't forgive putting our family through, through what he has.
01:40After weeks of negotiation, a contact has managed to arrange a meeting with a British fugitive, wanted for skipping court.
01:48He's agreed to speak to us on the condition that we do not reveal his identity.
01:52But I hope he'll give me a rare insight into the mind of a criminal on the run.
01:59So the person that we're about to go meet has just moved to a new location on one of the
02:03streets around here.
02:04We've been told that he's in one of these houses.
02:07We're just waiting for the call to go inside and meet him.
02:10He's still in his local area, jumping between safe houses provided by his gang.
02:14On the run, wanted in connection with a shooting and a stabbing.
02:21He's sent the address, so it's time to move.
02:30We can call you Miles, yeah?
02:31Yeah, call me Miles.
02:33Okay.
02:34We have a short window to speak to him before he changes safe houses again this evening.
02:41What does that feel like, to be on the wanted list?
02:45Don't sleep.
02:48Don't sleep.
02:49Eyes are always open.
02:51More paranoia.
02:53You can't do nothing, mate.
02:56What was it that you were accused of?
02:58What were you charged with?
03:00I was accused of a bit of offensive weapon.
03:03What kind of weapon?
03:05Machete.
03:07Something to keep tough.
03:09Someone got stabbed.
03:11So now they're trying to put two things together, if you know what I mean.
03:15Was there also a firearm charge as well?
03:18There was a firearm, yeah.
03:20There was a shooting that took place.
03:22But it had nothing to do with me.
03:25So, someone was stabbed.
03:27How do you think they would feel about you not attending a trial in relation to that incident?
03:33I don't know.
03:35It's right by now.
03:36I don't care about myself at the moment, if you know what I mean.
03:39Do you know many people who are like you, who are on the run for stuff?
03:44Yeah.
03:45A lot of people on the run.
03:47But you wouldn't know.
03:49If it's a silly case, then they'll show up.
03:51If it's a serious case, then a lot of people won't show up.
03:53They won't show up if it's a serious case.
03:56They won't show up, of course.
03:58Literally, the prison is packed out.
04:00So, all these court cases are going to be taken a year, two, three years.
04:04So, who wants to be on the run for that two, three years?
04:06Do you think it'll get to a point where the police will just no longer be putting any effort into
04:10finding you?
04:12They won't fire me.
04:13They'll give up?
04:14I don't think I have that much power, to be honest.
04:17Whoever wants to go up to their case, they go up to their case.
04:20If you want to go on a run, you'll go on a run.
04:23No one's stopping you.
04:29After meeting Miles, I can't help but think, how have we got to the point where attending court feels optional
04:36for criminals?
04:38And how many more people are there like him among us?
04:52I've been looking at how many people are actually currently on the run for crimes we've committed in the UK,
04:58and it's mind-blowing.
05:01Online, there are so many people wanted for serious crimes, and this is just the tip of the iceberg.
05:09A lot of them aren't people who the police have failed to arrest.
05:13They're people who have been arrested, charged, but haven't shown up to their court date,
05:19or they've shown up to their court date, and they haven't shown up to their sentencing date.
05:23And these are people, like Miles, who are just in our society, freely running around.
05:33Skipping court is a criminal offence.
05:35When someone doesn't show up to their court date, a judge can issue something called a failure-to-appear warrant
05:40for their arrest.
05:41Through freedom of information requests, I've discovered a shocking trend.
05:45Police in England and Wales received nearly 60,000 failure-to-appear warrants in 2025,
05:52up almost 50% from 2020.
05:55That's potentially nearly 60,000 criminals who've simply opted to skip court.
06:01In Crown Court specifically, where the most serious cases are heard, like murder, grievous bodily harm, and rape,
06:07the number of failure-to-appear warrants has more than doubled.
06:11So why are so many criminals skipping their trials all of a sudden?
06:16I start to look into some recent cases and come across a man called Daryl Hall,
06:21who has been tweeting non-stop under his own name, despite being on the run.
06:25Described as one of the top customers of a major organized crime group that peddled diluted drugs and firearms across
06:32the north of England,
06:33Daryl Hall skipped his trial in November 2024.
06:36He was convicted in his absence of conspiracy to deal Class A drugs and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
06:43If I can track him down, maybe I can find out from the horse's mouth why criminals like him have
06:50become so blasé about attending their own trials.
06:55Could finding him be as simple as sending him a direct message?
07:00A few days later, I receive an encrypted message from an account using the alias Donald Trump.
07:07Incredibly, despite knowing I'm a journalist, Daryl Hall agrees to a call.
07:20Hey, Daryl, how's it going?
07:22Yeah, well, sorry mate, one second, this phone's a nightmare.
07:28Can you hear me there?
07:29I can hear you now, yeah.
07:33So, what happened with your case?
07:35I didn't attend court and I went not guilty in my absence.
07:40Ah, okay.
07:41So, you got like your lawyer to basically tell them you're pleading not guilty in your absence.
07:47That's correct, yeah.
07:49Okay.
07:50If I don't went guilty and took a deal, I probably could have gone to me a year.
07:55Now it's down to 33%.
07:58And I probably said, until you get in jail, nothing, you know what I mean?
08:02I'm not bothered about going to jail.
08:05But I am physically that I haven't done.
08:09So, I just went and holly there.
08:12I didn't return.
08:13How does that work?
08:14How are you able to get out of the country?
08:18Well, I was on bail, but I wasn't, I had no restrictions on me bail.
08:24Are you not worried that you're going to be tracked down somehow?
08:27100% because you do it every single day.
08:30I'm more or less a prisoner in my own home now kind of thing where I'm at.
08:33I've got two children at home.
08:35Now I'm missing a dad daily, you know what I mean?
08:37I'm not living the life of Riley.
08:40So, where are you right now?
08:41It doesn't look like here.
08:44I think we can just close that in this conversation.
08:46Oh, fair.
08:47Yeah, it looks warmer than here.
08:51Would you be up for doing an interview with us?
08:53Yeah.
08:54Yeah, possibly.
08:57After his initial willingness to speak, Daryl suddenly goes cold.
09:01If I'm going to find out how and why he has managed to avoid justice, I'm going to have
09:06to find him.
09:07At the time of his trial, it was reported that he sent a sick note from Thailand.
09:11But I don't know where exactly, or if he's even still there.
09:15So, I've managed to locate this man on the internet with a very specific hobby who may be able
09:22to help.
09:29So, if we go on to the most wanted list, this guy, I'm pretty sure he's in Turkey.
09:35Bruno, I'm pretty sure he's in Barcelona.
09:38I tracked him to a country in Eastern Europe, a city called Plovdiv.
09:42Ryan Power is like a Welsh digital Poirot, dedicating all his time to finding UK fugitives using ethical
09:49open source intelligence methods.
09:52He even has a blog highlighting his successes.
09:54I'm using a 12-year-old laptop that's basically on its last legs.
10:00I've been using a tin can to do all this.
10:03So, I've been looking into this guy, Daryl Hull.
10:06Mm-hmm.
10:07Okay, so here he is.
10:08Okay.
10:09Is there a way to find out where he is?
10:12We can try.
10:14So, it's a facial recognition tool.
10:17You just scan an image, a face, and it'll bring back results from across the internet.
10:23It's brought up a lot of photographs, mostly from his football career.
10:27But we scroll down, and what we get is this image here.
10:33It says it's from a club in Patea.
10:35I'm going to guess it's a strip club.
10:38Okay.
10:38And that's him.
10:41This seems to indicate he could be in Patea, Thailand.
10:45This is July 24.
10:50There we have his boxing page.
10:52There he is.
10:53So, that was a cancelled bout for January 31st, 2025.
11:00So, he was going to fight at the Max Mai Tai Stadium in Patea.
11:07It's kind of crazy how there are wanted fugitives, and the police aren't able to find them, but you're able
11:13to do it from your house on your computer.
11:16It's kind of relatively easy to find out where they are, not like exact their address, but you can get
11:22a good sense of whether they're in the country or not.
11:24So, hang on, why are the police not able to do the same thing?
11:27I mean, I've thought about this a lot.
11:29Like, why is this guy basically just chilling out, big grin on his face?
11:32Probably nothing they can really do about it.
11:36So, Daryl may still be in Thailand, having a very nice time by the looks of things.
11:40If I'm going to gain insight into how British fugitives are able to evade justice so easily, that's where I'll
11:48need to go.
11:56Our investigation has uncovered a huge rise in British criminals skipping court.
12:01To find out why, I'm on the hunt for the UK's most wanted fugitives.
12:05Through open-source intelligence, we've tracked a convicted drug dealer named Daryl Hall to Pattaya Bay, Thailand.
12:22Pattaya Bay, known locally as Sin City, is the global capital of sex tourism and a notorious criminal hotspot.
12:32Despite Thailand having an extradition treaty with the UK, some say it has now replaced the Costa del Sol as
12:39the go-to hideaway for British fugitives.
12:41All these signs in English, there's a pub on every corner, there's British people everywhere.
12:45I mean, you could easily hide here as a British person.
12:48Hi, I was with Lady Boys last night.
12:51Okay, thank you. And you felt the need to come tell us that?
12:54Yeah.
12:54Okay.
12:55It seems like we're in the right place.
13:00I'd check all the locations linked to Daryl Hall from our open-source intelligence work.
13:06Weird. Everything's completely blacked out.
13:11But only hit dead ends.
13:14That is the club right there that Daryl can be seen partying in from our OSINT work.
13:23Do you know this guy? He used to come to this bar. This guy?
13:27No.
13:27You don't know him? This guy?
13:30No.
13:31No? Okay. All right. Thank you.
13:37We haven't been able to find Daryl yet, but we have had a tip-off of another UK fugitive
13:43who says he's thriving in the underground network of British criminals here.
13:50Even though the UK police are actively hunting him, he has agreed to speak to us.
13:56No, I'll be this way.
13:57Okay.
13:58Follow me.
13:58All right.
14:03AD fled the UK while on bail after being charged with stabbing someone
14:07and claims he quickly rose the ranks in Pattaya Bay's criminal underworld.
14:11I'm hoping he can help shed light on how he was able to leave the UK despite being charged
14:17with a violent crime.
14:18I'm hoping he's having no baby right here.
14:27I can't see with these things, you see?
14:44A.D. has taken me to one of his apartments where he says he's currently training his new
14:49Thai criminal assistant.
14:51So why have you got a suitcase of weed?
14:54In Thailand, it grows like grass everywhere, and that's what it's like.
14:58But as soon as you figure out how to get outside of Thailand, you're in a job, boy.
15:05You know what I mean?
15:06I enjoy laughing.
15:09Feel it up.
15:10Feel it up.
15:11Don't be shy.
15:14So this is English people basically transporting weed and suitcases back to the UK.
15:19Yeah.
15:20Like how else did you make money?
15:22A lot of people would be able to get a visa system.
15:26Well, my ex-girlfriend's an immigration officer.
15:29If, say, someone who was in a similar position to you back in the UK said,
15:33can you help me out with a visa, she would be able to help?
15:36Yeah, yeah.
15:38Yeah, of course.
15:39Is that something you've done for people?
15:41Well, yeah, I don't really want to go too much into the visa system because that's one
15:45thing why I don't really want to.
15:59What was it that you were accused of and charged with in the UK that meant you decided to leave?
16:05Well, I was accused with sectionating them with intent.
16:09Wounded with intent.
16:11I went out of a knife and it got used.
16:14They're talking to me something about looking at 18 years.
16:17Hmm.
16:18Do you know what I mean?
16:19Like that type of time kind of gives me shivers and gives me goosebumps a little bit.
16:23Do you know what I mean?
16:23Mm-hmm.
16:24Because I've already been inside of that three times, you see?
16:28I learned from that and, um, yeah, I pulled it off.
16:33Like, how did you get out of the country?
16:35Just jumped out of a plane and got out, eh?
16:37I booked a flight on, um, easyjet.com, whatever you call it.
16:41And that's just the way I've lived my life.
16:43I've stalked it and known to things and I always think, yes.
16:46Except for going to trial.
16:48So, I actually got booked my flight the same day as Cora.
16:52Right.
16:53And, yeah, they gave me bail, didn't they?
16:55The absolute wallies.
16:57I can go to the moon and pop my sister and I told me.
17:00So, you were allowed to leave the country?
17:01Oh, yeah?
17:02You were allowed to, but you had...
17:03I even asked.
17:05I even asked.
17:06I said, oh, whatever you're allowed, I'll quit.
17:07All the day and then come back.
17:08I'll put you on back.
17:09She goes, yeah, you can get to the moon and back.
17:11If you want this long joy on this day or wait at this time.
17:14Right, right, right, right, right.
17:15Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
17:16Isn't it quite stressful?
17:18Like, there's an extradition treaty, right?
17:20Like, couldn't someone arrest you at any moment
17:21and send you back to the UK?
17:24I thought it would be red alarm.
17:26What, you see when you're in England?
17:28Yeah, and you've got the police after you?
17:30Yeah, yeah.
17:30Well, I don't know if you know what.
17:33Well, yeah, it hasn't happened to me personally, but...
17:35Well, yeah, yeah.
17:36I'm surprised if I was sitting there and thinking,
17:38do you know what?
17:39They got you to get me, come back.
17:42You don't even have to be that careful, man.
17:44Well, I don't even have to be that careful.
17:45But as soon as you get help of the EU, you're laughing.
17:52I'm astounded at the ease with which AD says he was able to flee the UK.
17:57Courts have the power to confiscate a defendant's passport.
18:00But AD was allowed to keep his, despite being accused of a violent crime
18:05and having previous similar convictions.
18:07On top of that, he claims to have taken on an array of criminal endeavors in Thailand,
18:13apparently not concerned that he might be extradited back to the UK.
18:28Out here in Soy 6, the main red light district of Pattaya, he's having the time of his life.
18:36What's it like living here?
18:37It's perhaps a new playground, mate.
18:41It's cheap.
18:42I am his parents.
18:45Anything is possible.
18:48To AD, it may seem like a paradise, but there is a dark underbelly to Pattaya.
18:54Just a casual scan of the news yields an alarming number of mysterious deaths.
18:59People falling off balconies or their corpses washing up on tourist beaches.
19:05For that reason, AD is reluctant to speak too candidly about the criminal underworld.
19:13In Thailand, you've got to watch what you're doing
19:15and see your nose out of other people's businesses.
19:19And is that because you'd be putting yourself at risk?
19:22I may would put myself at risk, yes.
19:24Things can happen every single day.
19:28Something by this happens to somebody who's spoken.
19:31To somebody who's spoken out?
19:33Yeah.
19:35So why don't you go back?
19:37I would put Bartley, look at Doran, chuckle with a chin, and I'd get forgotten about.
19:42Do you have any reasons you want to go back?
19:45Um, yes.
19:47I would go back for my son.
19:50I've missed so much of his life because of my past violence.
19:56But who knows what will happen in court on Judgment Day.
20:03Hey, you're in or you're out.
20:06And I would be out, boy, and I'm still out.
20:11The person who you're accused of wounding with intent, how do you think they would feel about you being here
20:19in Thailand instead of facing the trial?
20:25I don't know.
20:26I don't know. I've never been in that position.
20:28I'm usually a suspect. You know what I mean?
20:33I've never actually been the victim.
20:38Although I haven't been able to track down Daryl Hall, AD, as one of the nearly 60,000 defendants who
20:45skip court every year,
20:46has provided an insight into how British fugitives are so easily able to escape the law.
20:52When even those charged with violent crime are allowed to keep their passports,
20:56going on the run before your trial can be as easy as buying a plane ticket.
21:02And so you have, you know, criminals who see this as a kind of paradise where they can do whatever
21:08they want,
21:08where there are no rules.
21:10And while this is all going on, victims back in the UK are just no closer to getting the justice
21:15and closure for what happened to them.
21:25We've been tracking down British fugitives and have uncovered a previously unreported rise in the number of criminals on the
21:32run.
21:33Even criminals accused of serious crimes like GBH and death by dangerous driving often appear to be free to leave
21:40the country at will.
21:41For their victims, this means justice may never come.
21:47For their victims, this means justice may never come.
21:52Jack was full of life, very outgoing, very funny, a little bit goofy, pretty, like, happy, happy-go-lucky guy.
22:04Around 6 o'clock in the evening, Jack had been out for a run and he went across the road
22:10and was hit by someone speeding and he died on impact, essentially.
22:22Jack, a 29-year-old father-to-be, was pronounced dead at the scene.
22:27The driver of the Range Rover that killed him is a man named Rashid Ali.
22:32He was charged with death by dangerous driving, but by the time the case came to court three years after
22:38the incident, he had fled and returned to his home country of Pakistan.
22:46When did it become clear that he wasn't going to come to this trial?
22:49We actually had a number of emails from him via his barrister, finally saying that he was under a great
22:56deal of stress and he wasn't going to turn up and face his trial.
23:01But he also said that he would come back if found guilty.
23:04But how did it feel to get that letter? I mean, on the one hand, he's not showing up to
23:08court, on the other hand, he's kind of saying, I'm sorry.
23:10I can appreciate that he is sorry. I don't question that he's sorry, but I can't forgive putting our family
23:18through what he has.
23:20He didn't go out with the intention to kill Jack on that evening and we could have shown forgiveness to
23:26him if he'd taken some accountability.
23:27But I think the main thing is accountability for your actions and there was none of that there.
23:34Rashid Ali was sentenced in his absence to five years in prison. His whereabouts are currently unknown.
23:41What would you like to see happen now?
23:44I would like Rashid Ali to come back of his own accord. He said he would come back and face
23:50the consequences if found guilty.
23:51He was found guilty unanimously. If that's not the case, I would like the government to support us in bringing
23:58him back.
23:59And really, I would like it to be the case that people facing serious charges and custodial sentences aren't able
24:05to have their passport and then essentially abscond, as has been the case for us.
24:13It continues to hang over us and I would have hoped that it would be on the UK justice system
24:19to do right by him.
24:21Sorry.
24:26Sorry.
24:26Sorry, Cliff.
24:27Just a minute.
24:34Having been someone that's never been involved with the justice system before, I had a lot of faith in it
24:38in the UK.
24:39I was a believer in that it worked.
24:43Do you still have that faith?
24:45No, I don't.
24:47I can't because it's right in front of me. It's not working and it hasn't worked for five years with
24:54our family.
25:03It's clear that Rashid Ali, AD and Daryl Hall may not have been able to go on the run if
25:09they had been ordered to surrender their passports as part of their bail conditions.
25:13But I think there's another more concerning reason why they decided to flee rather than face justice.
25:20And that's that clearly they didn't think they would be caught.
25:25As part of my investigation, I submitted freedom of information requests to 43 police forces in England and Wales.
25:32In early 2026, police had yet to execute more than 30,000 arrest warrants for people on the run after
25:39skipping court.
25:40More than a quarter of these warrants are against people accused of category A offences, the most serious crimes like
25:48rape, robbery and GBH.
25:50How have we got to the point where potentially 30,000 criminals have skipped court and not been found?
25:58Over the past five years, a crisis in the justice system has unfolded.
26:03A combination of the COVID pandemic, a barrister strike and historic underfunding has led to a huge ongoing backlog of
26:11cases in courts and a lack of spaces in prisons.
26:15So here we go.
26:16Alexander Chalk was the Justice Secretary under former Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
26:21He claims to have sounded the alarm that the British justice system was on the brink of collapse.
26:27Our freedom of information requests have yielded data from the Ministry of Justice that show that over the past five
26:32years, there was a 134% increase in people failing to appear at their trials.
26:40What's your reaction?
26:42Because cases are taking so much longer to come to court, what I know as a prosecutor is that means
26:47your chances of getting your witness to court go down because people disengage, but also the chance of getting the
26:53defendant in the dock go down.
26:56So you'd say that a lot of this is attributed to the delays caused by the backlog?
27:00Every prosecutor and defense advocate will tell you that delay is toxic.
27:05It provides more opportunity for a defendant who wants to avoid the consequences of his actions to disappear.
27:11Why not do a bunk? Why not head off? Why not abscond?
27:15Is there a chance that because there's a lack of spaces in prison or a lack of availability in courts
27:20that people who would normally have been remanded in custody are now being let out?
27:26Well, that's my point. There must be a risk of that.
27:29But then the effect of that is that, A, they become a flight risk, and B, this could be dangerous
27:37people being released onto the streets.
27:39Right, which is why this is a horror show, which is why you've got to bring the backlogs down.
27:44And the real question is whether the situation is recoverable at all.
27:56We are hunting one of the tens of thousands of fugitives who have opted to skip their trial and not
28:02been found.
28:03After fleeing to Pakistan and being sentenced in his absence, Rashid Ali is still on the run.
28:08But I've just got a lead that might help me find him.
28:13Kira Ryan found a tweet in which Rashid Ali was using a different name.
28:18A tweet he made in response to a tweet about the death of Jack Ryan.
28:24Someone said, they must have this person's DNA.
28:27He responds, yes.
28:29And with that name, I've managed to find his social media.
28:34I found his Facebook.
28:35I've even managed to find what appears to be his business.
28:39Now, I've also found his Snapchat, and you can see him basically living it up.
28:45Here he is at what appears to be his own wedding.
28:49Here he is at the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.
28:53So, please, you're welcome.
28:54Is he one of the best, yeah?
28:56Yeah.
28:56Absolutely.
28:58But there's one video from his Snapchat in particular that I think is very interesting.
29:05This video here, the video was posted two months after he was sentenced.
29:12And I've matched the interiors to a restaurant called Madhu's of Mayfair.
29:19He appears to be living it up in a London restaurant.
29:23Could Rashid Ali really have been so audacious as to come back to the UK while there was a warrant
29:29out for his arrest?
29:32To try to find out and finally get some answers for Kira, I decide to give Rashid Ali a call
29:37using a number listed on his business page.
29:43He's just messaged me, who's that?
29:48What are you going to say?
29:50I doubt Rashid will pick up if I tell him who I really am, so I pretend to be a
29:55businessman.
29:56With it not being absolutely clear what his business actually does, I've set up an equally ambiguous meeting about import
30:04-export with him for tomorrow morning.
30:15All right, ready? Everyone ready?
30:16I'm ready.
30:17Rolling.
30:23He's saying, why not WhatsApp?
30:27He is typing and deleting. If we don't, if he's suspicious in any way, I think we go for the
30:31phone call.
30:32I mean, is he calling you right now?
30:33Yes, we're doing this. Can you hear me?
30:37Can you hear me?
30:38Yeah, I can hear you, yes.
30:41Are you in Saudi Arabia right now?
30:43Yes.
30:44I'm here for Omron.
30:46Okay, nice.
30:47Look, I'm actually a journalist for Channel 4 and I've been speaking to the family of Jack Ryan.
30:52You said you were going to return to face justice. Why haven't you come back to the UK?
31:00Yeah, I was terminally ill and still I am.
31:05Terminally ill? With what?
31:07Yes. Tuberculosis and some other health issues, but I will not disclose to anybody that I don't know yet.
31:16Okay. All right. But come on, Rashid, come on. Like, you could come to London. If you can travel to
31:22Saudi Arabia, you can travel to London.
31:24I definitely will travel to London, mate.
31:27And I've told them I'm coming back in 2027.
31:31And were they happy with that? They said, yeah, sure, see you in a few years?
31:35Yes, yes.
31:36People may find it a little bit hard to believe that it's a personal illness that's causing you not to
31:42come back for so many years.
31:43When, you know, your social media shows you at the Burj Khalifa, shows you at weddings, showed that you were
31:49at a restaurant in West London.
31:53What social media platforms?
31:55There's a Snapchat of you at a restaurant called Madhu's in Mayfair.
31:59No, no. I'm afraid there must have been, perhaps, someone else's account. I have never been to Madhu's.
32:08Did you come back to the UK after you were sentenced?
32:10Well, I wouldn't comment, mate.
32:14Why wouldn't you comment?
32:17I don't have to.
32:19Well, I suppose you don't have to, but you might want to because, you know, this is a family who
32:25lost their son.
32:26This is a sister who lost her brother. He was a father-to-be.
32:30And I definitely, I will definitely face justice, mate. Yeah.
32:34Everyone will see.
32:36I will let you enjoy the rest of your day.
32:40Okay. All right. Thank you, Rashid.
32:43Thank you. That's all.
32:45I wasn't expecting him to speak to us for that long.
32:49He was so casual. He was just, gave the air to someone who was like living free and easy.
32:54He's woven this kind of lie to himself that he believes in the justice system and he plans to come
33:00back.
33:01But he's not coming back. At least his actions show that he's not.
33:04And it's been quite easy for him to take that course of action.
33:09How long will he evade justice for?
33:12We obtained freedom of information data as part of our investigation, revealing that of the more than 30,000 outstanding
33:19arrest warrants, more than 7,000 were issued before 2020.
33:24So there's potentially 7,000 people who've skipped court and six or more years later, they still have not been
33:31caught.
33:31Like Muhammad Afmadi, who absconded in 2018 after being charged with serious sexual offenses.
33:38And heroin smuggler John Barton, convicted in his absence and sentenced to 20 years in 2003.
33:46I've discovered another UK fugitive who's been on the run since 2009 for his alleged role in a multi-million
33:53pound insider trading ring.
33:55He's currently one of the National Crime Agency's top 20 most wanted criminals.
34:02In an almost Hollywood plotline, Ursin Mustafa allegedly exploited his role as the print room manager at JP Morgan to
34:10steal and distribute confidential documents to a ring of criminal associates.
34:15He was arrested in July 2008, released on police bail, and then vanished into thin air.
34:25I found this other wanted poster. It says one of his nicknames is Ursin Karaman.
34:33What happens if I put him into Facebook?
34:39Wait, that's him. That's literally him. He's here on Facebook.
34:44Is he active? Yeah, he's active.
34:45He has a handyman repair fittings and maintenance service in Essentepi, Northern Cyprus.
34:54No way.
34:55Yeah, this is him. I mean, I've got his picture right here. There's a very recognizable face.
35:01This is someone who's on the National Crime Agency's most wanted list.
35:06And I've got his phone number in 10 seconds.
35:12Let's give him a call. Let's see if we can lure him out.
35:20Hello?
35:21Hi, is this Ursin?
35:24Yes, me, Kim.
35:26Yeah, hi. Um, do you do painting and also a bit of plastering?
35:32Um...
35:32If I'm okay, I'll be able to give you a quotation.
35:38Nice one. All right, that's Ursin, right?
35:41Yeah, yeah, it was Tony since I've come here.
35:48So whoever gave you my number must know me quite well.
35:51Yeah, yeah. All right, nice one, man. All right, I'll give you a text.
35:56Take care. Bye-bye, mate.
36:00Well, that was easy.
36:01But I feel we need to move quickly on this before he smells a rat.
36:12I'm in Northern Cyprus on the hunt for Ursin Mustafa,
36:15one of the NCA's top 20 most wanted fugitives,
36:19as part of my investigation into the growing problem of criminals on the run.
36:23He's wanted for his alleged role in a multi-million pound insider trading ring.
36:33North Cyprus is a state only recognized by Turkey,
36:37and there are no formal extradition arrangements with the UK.
36:41It subsequently earned a reputation as a safe haven for fugitives.
36:47And as a Turkish Cypriot, Ursin Mustafa enjoys even more diplomatic protection.
36:54Mustafa is openly advertising his services as a handyman in the area.
36:59I book an apartment and invite him over under the auspices of getting a quote for a paint job.
37:09Okay, let me just play a voice note.
37:12Good morning, pal. Good morning.
37:14And you said 11 a.m. Yeah, I'll be there.
37:17Okay, wow.
37:22Go, go, go, go, go, go.
37:24He's here, he's here.
37:26The cameras are set up.
37:28Any minute now, one of the national crime agency's most wanted criminals
37:32is going to walk through that door.
37:35This is so surreal.
37:37I can't believe this is happening.
37:43Hi, pal.
37:44Are you outside?
37:46Yeah, yeah, I'm outside where you took me to.
37:49All right, I'll come find you.
37:50I don't know.
37:51I've taken care of.
37:52Okay, thanks.
38:09How are you doing?
38:10Here I am.
38:11Good to meet you.
38:12And it's Tony.
38:14Come in, come in.
38:15Can I get you a drink of water?
38:17No, it's fine, thank you, pal.
38:18You sure?
38:19Yeah.
38:20So how long have you lived in Cyprus for?
38:232010.
38:24Do you ever go back to the UK much?
38:27I haven't been in a while.
38:28Yeah.
38:28I haven't been in a while.
38:30So what brought you out here to Cyprus?
38:32My family are Cypriot.
38:34Okay.
38:34So I was coming and going.
38:36And your name's not Tony, is it?
38:38It's Ursin Mustafa, right?
38:40Ursin, that's right, yeah.
38:40And you are wanted in the UK, right?
38:44You're one of the national crime industry's most wanted criminals
38:46for an insider trading scheme that you're alleged to be the ringleader of, right?
38:51That's right, yeah.
38:52For millions of dollars, millions of pounds.
38:55The truth is, actually, I'm a Channel 4 journalist.
38:59I'm actually here making a documentary about the UK justice system
39:02and I was wondering if you wanted to have a chat with me.
39:04I've actually got cameras.
39:05There's a camera here, a camera there, and a camera crew.
39:07Would you be up for having a chat?
39:10Yeah.
39:12Well, I wasn't expecting that.
39:15I mean, if you want to talk, I'll explain it.
39:16I've got nothing to...
39:17Okay, I've got a camera.
39:18I've got a camera.
39:19All right, guys, you guys can come.
39:22Thank you for being so open that way.
39:26I guess most people probably find it kind of surprising that you are kind of speaking openly to us.
39:33Why are you so happy to chat openly about this?
39:38Well, I'm just explaining what I say in black and white.
39:41I'm not denying anything.
39:43I don't think there's anything to hide.
39:45I really didn't see a thing of it except for manipulating the stock market.
39:51So...
39:51You're young.
39:52You do them kind of things.
39:53Yeah.
39:53It's money, you know?
39:55And you don't seem very afraid that anyone's going to arrest you or anyone's going to do anything,
40:00which I think might be surprising to a lot of people because most people think if the National Crime Agency
40:05and Interpol were looking for me,
40:07then I would be, like, terrified.
40:11I don't know.
40:12I don't know.
40:13I'm here.
40:13It's called from the FSA before, saying, come back.
40:17We'll do you a fair trial.
40:19What?
40:20Who said that?
40:21Not FSA.
40:22The FSA.
40:23The National Crime Agency said, come back, we'll give you a fair trial.
40:26And them saying, you know, if you do come back, we'll work on a, like, a softer case for you.
40:34But I haven't been in touch with me since.
40:36So that's kind of the extent of the National Crime Agency's efforts to find you is just emailing you.
40:41Yeah.
40:42Please come back.
40:43Kind of.
40:44And what's your life like here?
40:46Are you having a good time?
40:48Well, you know what it is, I do miss the UK sometimes.
40:52You know, I can't ever get on a plane.
40:55I can't go through the borders.
40:57You know, if someone close to me passes away in England, I can't go to their funeral.
41:02But I've got no choice.
41:03When you wake up, it was either doing time in prison
41:09or coming and spending the rest of my life in an open prison.
41:13You know, it's not nice for me as well when I'm, you know, doing work for people.
41:17And then all of a sudden, you know, on their Facebook, my picture comes up.
41:22What sort of things do they say to you?
41:24Well, not really, no.
41:25Well, some people just find it quite hilarious.
41:29There's a lot of people in North Cyprus with criminal backgrounds.
41:35And part of the information is incorrect anyway.
41:37Okay.
41:38You know, about my height, about my age.
41:41There's just a lot of things they're putting on there which don't add up.
41:44What, so they don't even have your correct details?
41:47No.
41:47Really?
41:48Yeah.
41:48But you were alleged to be the ringleader.
41:51Yeah.
41:53Yeah, I was the ringleader.
41:56It's like the information.
41:59Would you ever go back to stand trial?
42:03No.
42:04No.
42:04No?
42:05No, not, not, not.
42:06Okay.
42:07I've got, you know, I've got my life in sequence now.
42:11I've got, you know, a serious missus.
42:15I've got, you know, I've got quite a lucky job.
42:18Yeah.
42:18You know.
42:19Why would I want to just start from scratch?
42:22Get into England and do prison time and come out?
42:25What for?
42:26Yeah.
42:27You understand?
42:31Well, thanks very much for, for speaking to us.
42:33No problem.
42:34All right.
42:34Have a good one.
42:36If it does come out, send me the...
42:38Yeah, yeah, sure.
42:39We'll, we'll, we'll, we'll email you.
42:42Yeah.
42:43Right.
42:43All right.
42:44Take care.
42:44But how did you get my, from Facebook, my information and handyman?
42:50Yes, yes, yes.
42:51Yeah, yeah.
42:52Or from social media.
42:53Yeah.
42:53Yeah.
42:55Yeah, yeah.
42:55Okay then.
42:56All right.
42:57Bye Erson.
42:58Slash Tony.
43:04I mean, he just completely openly without an ounce of fear or trepidation admitted to being
43:12the ringleader of a insider trading scheme, uh, is happy with his decision to leave, isn't
43:19worried about getting caught.
43:21And, uh, the most, according to him, that the NCA has done to track him down and send
43:25him an email.
43:29So, maybe should we, should we get out of here?
43:31Yeah.
43:44After months of trying to speak to him again, I try to call Daryl Hall, the fugitive who kick-started
43:49my journey one last time.
43:56No answer, which is a shame because I wanted to ask why, especially in a case like his where,
44:03had he gone to trial, it's likely he would have been out by now, would have been able
44:20to inspire him a marriage.
44:21He wasn't happy withæ–¯ Zimmerman missing.
44:45You have to.
44:47Have you tried enough for user
44:48safe as a result. I brought my findings to the National Crime Agency, to the Ministry
44:52of Justice, and the Crown Prosecution Service, but none of them would speak to me. But I
44:58was able to speak to five criminals on the run. It's just such a strange scenario where
45:03criminals will speak to you, but the government won't. So maybe it's just not a politically
45:08popular issue to talk about, but this is a crisis at the very heart of the thing that
45:15holds our entire society together, which is the idea of justice. And it seems that at
45:20least right now, no one's really doing anything to address it.
45:56Well, next week, will the war in Iran mean thousands of holiday flights being cancelled
46:01or loads of bargain trips being up for grabs? Kate Quilton investigates at eight. Tomorrow,
46:07over 40 years after the world's best-known horse disappeared, just what did happen to
46:12Shergar? Join us at eight o'clock. Back to Friday, and Gogglebox is next.
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