Episode 1 Fugitives

-Come on.

-On the run...

-Get back here!

-..and over here.

Hands out now, hands out.

When foreign criminals flee their home countries,

many hide out in the UK...

Give me your hands.

..but if they think they're safe, they're wrong.

They know they're wanted.

A lot of these people are waiting for that knock on the door.

But the traffic in fugitives isn't all one-way.

Across Europe, there are hundreds of British criminals

also trying to escape justice.

From the sun-drenched Costas

to the busy streets of the Dutch capital,

this is how the police take down the fugitives...

You're under arrest under the Extradition Act 2003.

Police officer!

..both at home, and abroad.

On today's programme...

Get down, now. Tom!

..the criminal who thought he'd found

the perfect place to dodge the law,

and Spanish police pay a surprise visit to a Merseyside gangster

who'd gone to extreme lengths to stay on the run for 13 years.

He was obviously very well-resourced,

he was obviously very well-prepared,

and he was determined to stay hidden.

London, home to almost nine million people.

Hidden amongst them,

fugitives wanted for crimes committed across the world.

It's the job of a specialist team of detectives

to find them and bring them to justice.

This is the Metropolitan Police Extradition Unit.

The unit is a manhunt unit,

trying to track down people that are wanted in foreign countries

for a wide range of serious crime.

It's valuable work because it makes a difference

and takes dangerous people off the streets.

Over a period of more than a year, we filmed them

as they tracked down fugitives who thought they could escape the law.

Right, can we just run through these jobs we've got for this evening?

The first one we're going to go out on is Kamil Borkowski,

who's wanted for a murder in Poland.

Detective Sergeant Pete Rance and DC Jamie Derby

are planning an operation in south-west London.

The target is a man they've arrested before,

but who was subsequently released.

He's since been convicted in his absence of murder by a Polish court.

The last time we were there, he was hiding under some stairs or...

-He was hiding in a cupboard.

-So when we get there, me and you

make the approach to the door with Christophe,

and if you guys can cover the back,

make sure there's nothing going on round the back, all right?

Everyone happy with their roles when we get to the first address?

-Yes.

-Everyone good to go?

-Yes.

-Smashing.

Pete and Jamie are part of a team of more than 20 detectives

who make up the Extradition Unit.

They've been tracking Kamil Borkowski for years.

We've had the job a little while.

He was initially accused of the murder,

he's now been convicted of the murder,

he's got three years to serve,

so we've refreshed our intelligence checks on it, and...

..we're pretty confident that he's going to be at the address

where he's registered as living at the moment.

The identified address we're looking at is a ground floor flat.

We'll deploy shortly around the rear, just to see if there's

any chance of having a look inside the property from outside.

Somebody that's wanted for murder in a foreign jurisdiction...

..it goes without saying that that person presents a risk to...

..to us in the United Kingdom.

They quickly check the area, and confirm they have the right flat.

Hearing him.

-Hello.

-Hello.

-We're from the police.

-Yeah.

-Is it OK to come in? Sorry? Is it OK to come in?

-Yes, of course.

-OK, thank you.

-What's happened?

Nothing, nothing to worry about.

With one of the team covering escape routes,

the others search the property, knowing that their man,

who is already convicted for murder at home,

has good reason to hide.

The police are told that Borkowski has moved out

and men's clothes found in the bedroom belong to a friend.

Pete is not altogether convinced.

She could be telling the truth, it may be that she's got rid of him.

It could be that we're just a little bit too early in...

..visiting the address, so we'll have to have a rethink.

The wanted murderer seems to have evaded capture for now,

but these detectives are determined they will get their man,

however long it takes.

Hello?

The hunt never stops, even crossing international borders

to ensure bad guys are brought to book.

When Spanish police raided this fortified villa near Malaga,

they were searching for a Merseyside drug baron

who'd been on the run for more than a decade...

..this man, Mark Lilley...

..a dangerous gangster with a reputation for violence.

He was one of Britain's most wanted,

and for 13 years no-one could find him.

He managed to stay one step ahead of us and he was obviously

very well-resourced, he was obviously very well-prepared,

and he was determined to stay hidden.

The investigation into Lilley began all the way back in 1998,

when the north-west Regional Crime Squad launched a covert operation

to take down Merseyside's biggest drug dealers.

One of the officers on that job still works in surveillance,

so we can't reveal his identity.

Mark Lilley was well-known within the St Helens area

to be a bit of a bully.

His core business was making a lot of money from drugs importation

and distribution. He was a major player within quite a large group

of drug dealers, him being at the top,

and he did instruct and intimidate people to do his bidding.

The police operation filmed Lilley's every move and installed secret

microphones to gather the evidence they needed to bring him in.

We decided that we would have audio placed within his flat,

and cameras outside, which proved a great asset for us

in relation to intelligence that we were gathering from that flat.

There was a lot of drug users and drug dealers that were arriving

at that flat on a daily basis.

The impression I got of him, he was a big guy.

Could be quite intimidating, a bit of a show-off,

and liked to brag quite a bit about what he was doing.

The surveillance operation had Lilley banged to rights.

Police raided his houses, uncovering his cache of drugs and firearms

and the gangster was arrested.

He was in bed at the time.

Got out of bed, went down on his knees,

put his hands behind his head.

He was quite cool, calm and collected...

and in a joking mood, cracking jokes with the searching officers.

Lilley clearly believed he would have the last laugh.

He was out on bail when he went to trial

and, before the verdict was reached, he did a runner.

Lilley attended the majority of his trial and then absconded

as it was coming to an end.

The trial continued in his absence and he was given a conviction,

so he knew that when he was on the run, if he was arrested,

he would be coming back to serve a 23-year sentence.

Lilley stayed hidden for years,

but sightings of him trickled in

and the trail seemed to lead to one country in particular.

We had indications that Lilley was in Spain.

We had him linked to several other countries, as well,

but Spain was always the main one

and that was where we were focused on, really.

It was then just a case of

actually narrowing down exactly where he was.

But for a period of time he managed to stay one step of ahead of us

and he was probably moving quite regularly, at that point,

to evade detection.

In the years since Lilley fled, cooperation between British

and Spanish law enforcement had increased considerably.

By the time Inspector Olga Lizana took over

as head of the Spanish National Police's Fugitives Unit,

Lilley had already been on the run for more than a decade.

Well, at the beginning I thought we were not going to find this guy,

because he was in Spain for, at that time, for around ten years.

So it's like there's...

a fugitive can change a lot.

But then, a breakthrough.

Olga discovered five houses in the area Lilley had bought and paid for,

even though they weren't in his name.

She put them all under surveillance.

The neighbours didn't know who he was or his real name.

But it was like he was always driving luxury cars.

He'd just leave the house at night and come early in the morning

or late at night, but he doesn't have much relation

with the neighbours, so I knew it was him.

Olga tracked him to this villa,

high in the hills above Malaga and surrounded by a ten-foot-high wall.

It was time to strike.

You always think, OK, we're going to have just one opportunity

to get him, so you want the right moment for that.

And maybe it's the last opportunity for us

so, OK, this is it.

But, as more than 40 armed officers prepared for an early-morning raid,

not everything would go according to plan.

There are extradition teams working across the UK.

One of the busiest is here in West Yorkshire.

Hello, police.

In the past six years,

they've arrested more than 400 foreign criminals.

Contact.

And this is the team on duty tonight -

PC Dave Lockwood...

I've just confirmed it is the wanted person.

..and his colleague PC Tom Allen.

-Move on to the next one?

-Yep.

Tonight, they've got a new case that's just come in.

Oh, it's fresh, very fresh.

It's a European Arrest Warrant issued for this man.

We've just had a new one drop into our mailbox we've received

from the National Crime Agency.

And I think we've got, as of two months ago, a solid address for him.

I think it will be a good one for us to go for tonight.

Ladislav Ziga has a prison sentence waiting for him

in the Czech Republic for assault, robbery and theft.

Prepared for anything,

they head off to check out a recent address for the wanted man.

It's late, and most of the homes on this street are in darkness,

but in the house they're targeting,

it looks like someone could be awake.

-This here, on the end corner.

-Here with the lights on.

Yeah.

They approach the house, checking for signs of movement upstairs.

And sure enough, when Tom knocks on the front door,

a figure comes to the window.

-Contact, first floor, female.

-That's them.

But whoever lives here is in no hurry to come to the door.

Looks like that might be a bathroom,

so I don't know if she's been in the shower or something.

-Yeah, yeah.

-Might just need a moment.

Who are you, pal?

MUFFLED REPLY

Are you coming to answer the door?

Looking good, Tom.

Hello there, how you doing?

Sorry to get you up. What's your name, pal, please? Surname?

Who else is in the house?

The man at the door looks similar to the person they're chasing.

Date of birth? Do you have an identity card?

But the man they're looking for has a scorpion tattooed on his neck.

-No tattoo on the neck, is there?

-No.

A woman comes down the stairs.

She says there's no-one else but children in the house.

-How many others upstairs?

-Children.

-Children...

-No adults?

-No.

OK.

OK, I'm going to look upstairs, do you want to come with me?

-Yeah.

-OK. Come on, then, let's go upstairs.

Dave's not taking her at her word.

Why are you here?

Just one room at a time.

At first, it seems the residents are all telling the truth.

Upstairs, all is quiet.

That's dangerous, isn't it?

COUGHING

But then, Dave spots something in a cupboard.

Get down, now! Do not mess about.

In fact, stay there. Tom!

-Come in.

-What floor?

Stay there. Stay there now.

With two people desperate not to be found,

it's an unpredictable situation.

Put your hands down. Look, just cuff him straightaway.

See who he is.

Put your hands down.

Give me your hands.

Hand. Have you got your cuffs?

Other hand now.

Stay there.

Just let go of him.

Right. Slowly climb down.

-Stop. Stop it.

-No, no, stop shouting.

No, no, stop shouting.

We're dealing with something here.

Right, are you ready? Come on, drop down. Right, stay there.

Stay there.

-INDISTINCT

-Wait, wait.

They've found not one but two people hiding amongst the children's toys.

The unknown man and woman are cuffed and brought out.

In there, please.

Hang on. Wait, wait, wait. Let's go downstairs.

Just, will you relax? Chill out. Relax your arms.

Stop pulling against me.

-We're going to go downstairs and sort things out.

-OK.

Right, take a seat, chill out.

Now, they want to know who these two are,

and what exactly they were doing upstairs in a cupboard.

Sit there, please.

Why were you two hiding in the cupboard?

-Start off there.

-Because we were scared.

What were you scared of?

INDISTINCT SPEECH

Well, it's not normal for us to come to houses and find people

hiding in cupboards, is it? I'll have a look. Lift your head up.

OK. Thank you.

Tattoo on the neck from the picture.

Birthday?

Another look at the arrest warrant confirms what the officers suspect.

The man with the scorpion tattoo on his neck

is the fugitive they're hunting.

-Is that you?

-Yeah.

-Yeah?

Ladislav, the Czech authorities, the Czech police,

OK, have issued an arrest warrant for us to detain you.

As Tom arrests the man,

the woman caught hiding with him in the cupboard is released,

but she's having none of it.

You are?

I'll ring NCA.

We'll double-check.

It's not often they get people

asking to be arrested and extradited,

so Dave calls the National Crime Agency

to check out the woman's story.

I just want to know if this lass is wanted, to take her in, as well?

'Do you want me to give you a call-back?'

Yeah, I'm going to remain at the scene, at the address here.

She's packed her bag, ready to go, she's that sure she's wanted, so...

What offence are you wanted for?

-I don't know.

-You don't know?

The woman insists she's wanted by police,

even though she doesn't know what she's wanted for.

Tom explains that's not how this works.

If you just stay in here for five minutes, we're just waiting

to check. We're just finding out whether you are wanted.

Until...until the NCA tell us you are, we can't arrest you.

Then, the call comes through.

Hello?

'I've ran that name through, and there's no hit on there.'

-All right. Take care, thanks, see you. Bye.

-'Bye.'

I'm going to have to disappoint you.

You're not wanted.

Despite her protests, she won't be taken to the police station tonight,

leaving Dave to wonder

why she wanted to be arrested in the first place.

I've never had anybody as insistent as that before, no.

I mean, she got dressed, she got ready.

She were ready to go, weren't she? She were really insistent.

Dave and Tom take Ladislav back to the police station,

where he's processed before being sent to his extradition hearing.

As for the woman hiding in the cupboard with him,

further investigation revealed

she HAD been in trouble in the Czech Republic.

While living in the UK,

she'd been found guilty of theft in a court back home.

But because the sentence was suspended,

there was no arrest warrant.

Her partner will have to go back to the Czech Republic

to face justice by himself.

Detectives from the Metropolitan Police Extradition Unit

are back on the streets of London hunting for a killer.

Kamil Borkowski is a murderer on the run from Poland,

where he was convicted for kicking a man to death.

The detectives suspect he's hiding somewhere in these blocks of flats.

We came back yesterday afternoon

and were able to see the female inside the address,

decided to come back and give it another try this morning.

HE KNOCKS ON DOOR

This time, they won't take no for an answer.

Morning, it's the police, can you open the door, please?

Morning. I can see your feet.

I can see your feet, so you don't need to creep about.

I can see you again, tiptoeing back through to the living room.

Do you want to open the door?

They've spotted the partner of the man they're after

sneaking around inside.

But now, she has nowhere left to hide.

Open the door, please.

She tiptoed into the kitchen...

If she refuses to open the door,

the detectives now have the power to force entry into the property.

Open the door, please, it's the police.

-Pete? Pete?

-Yeah.

-There's two people in there.

-Yeah, yeah.

Open the door, mate. Kamil, come and open the door.

Pete.

-Just stop screaming, stop

-BLEEP.

Police. Is Kamil here?

Where is he?

-All right, come out. Put your hands up.

-Hands up.

No, no, no. Stop.

We had a gut feeling that he was still linked to this address

and still with her...

..and that gut feeling has proven to be right.

This way, this way.

It's taken more than six months, but the team have finally got their man.

OK, mind your head.

Just sit. Stay this side, stay this side.

Going to put your seatbelt on, all right?

All right.

Well done, mate.

We've got to get lucky, and we got lucky this morning again,

although, we've... I suppose, if we were to sort of...

..try and put a positive on it, we'd say we've made our own luck

here today, so, very pleased.

Another dangerous man in custody.

Kamil Borkowski has dodged the law and evaded capture for six years,

but now, the extradition team's persistence has finally paid off.

Caught red-handed with guns and drugs,

dangerous gangster Mark Lilley was sentenced to 23 years behind bars.

But he'd already gone on the run,

and had managed to outwit the law for 13 years.

He was living a life, he was living it under a different name,

different identity. For a period of time,

he managed to stay one step ahead of us, and he was probably

moving quite regularly at that point to evade detection.

But the search for Lilley never stopped,

and all the clues pointed to Spain.

By the time Inspector Olga Lizana took over

as head of the Spanish National Police Fugitives Unit,

Lilley had been in hiding for more than ten years.

You could not imagine how much time it took me to check

all the information, because it was not a new case, it was an old case,

so you have to check everything again.

Olga's diligence paid off when she finally tracked him down

to this hilltop villa. It was surrounded by ten-foot-high walls,

and she had no idea what lay behind them.

We didn't know how many people were in the house.

We were not sure if they'd got guns or not,

so you have to cover all those things

and be prepared for whatever happens.

Olga launched a strike on the compound.

Mobilising a team of more than 40 armed officers with air support,

the villa was surrounded as a tactical unit swarmed over the gate.

Armed police stormed the villa

and smashed in the front door with a battering ram.

Once inside, officers searched the house for the man who now topped

the list of Britain's most wanted.

But there was no sign of him.

The guys there were telling me that Lilley was not in the house.

They had checked the whole house, and they didn't find the guy.

Somehow, the fugitive appeared to have evaded capture once again.

But Olga wasn't giving up.

I was sure he was there.

I just said, "Well, nobody's moving from here till we find him!"

It was a critical decision.

They swept the house a second time.

A closer look inside a row of wardrobes revealed a slight oddity

that was to prove crucial.

The wooden panel at the back of one of them

was slightly different to the rest.

One of the police officers that was checking that area realised that

one of the wardrobes was not similar to the other.

So they started taking all the things out of there

and then they found the door.

Behind the wooden panel was a solid steel door.

They'd found the secret entrance to a fortified panic room.

Hidden inside was the gangster.

We knew he was inside the panic room,

so I told him if he didn't open the door,

I'm going through the whole wall to get you,

so he decided to open.

Olga's threat to smash down the wall to get him

convinced Lilley the game was up.

The door opened, and she could finally size up the man

she'd been hunting for so long.

He was so big that we couldn't use just one handcuffs.

We had to use two because of the size of his arm.

And the man they arrested looked nothing like the man

who had fled British justice all those years before.

He'd changed his appearance massively.

He'd bulked up an incredible amount,

got lots of different tattoos.

He'd changed facially.

Obviously he'd been out in Spain for a long time, so he was very tanned.

So if you put his picture next to one from 13 years previous,

you perhaps wouldn't necessarily know they were the same individual.

But Olga knew she'd got her man.

She hopes Lilley's arrest will act as a warning

to any other British criminals thinking of going on the run.

This is not a safe place for British fugitives any more.

I think that's the message -

don't come to Spain.

In August 2013, Mark Lilley was flown back to the UK.

After a failed appeal, he finally started his 23-year sentence.

Kamil Borkowski was extradited back to Poland in August 2016

to serve out his sentence for murder.

-Get down, now! Tom!

-Coming.

And Ladislav Ziga, who'd concealed himself in a cupboard,

was sent back to the Czech Republic in June of the same year

without his hide-and-seek partner.