Episode 13 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,

where the villains seek a life of luxury...

..to the busy streets of the Dutch capital,

where many continue their life of crime.

GLASS SHATTERS

We join the crack teams hunting them down.

When you take the risk to come to Amsterdam as a criminal,

there's a high chance that we'll get you.

When it comes to justice, borders are no barrier.

You're under arrest under the Extradition Act 2003.

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

Police officer!

..both at home, and abroad.

If you're thinking of running - don't.

We will find you.

We will bring you back.

On today's programme,

a series of dawn raids across London

leads to the arrest of an elusive Portuguese woman

wanted for forgery and embezzlement...

There's no photograph and there's no fingerprints, I don't think.

If she says it's not her, then we've got to prove that it is her.

..the Leeds teenager almost beaten to death on camera...

how a Europe-wide DNA search led police to a fugitive

who had fled to Slovakia...

There is no hiding place,

because DNA is such a wonderful investigatory tool for us.

..and, after an audacious armed attack on a prison van,

this Salford gang member gets a nasty surprise

over breakfast in the Spanish sunshine.

In West Yorkshire,

serving warrants issued by other European police forces

is a high priority.

I think we get the full spectrum.

We get some who are relatively new arrivals,

but also some who've been established

and convinced themselves that it's a piece of history

and that that computer record will have been deleted.

Tonight, officers Dave Lockwood and Tom Allen

have a warrant for a Hungarian man

alleged to have committed an offence five years ago.

Right, the one we're going to go for first is this lad in Huddersfield.

Police attended his house three weeks ago and he was present,

so it's an up-to-date one,

where we know he was living in this house three weeks ago,

so we don't want a passage of time,

we want to get there as soon as we can,

and get in there and see if we can get him arrested.

The man they're after has been accused by Hungarian police

of falsely reporting a crime.

As dusk falls,

Dave and Tom waste no time in heading out

in the hope of catching him at home.

We also have his address

corroborated by some of our partner agencies

that have him linked and living at that address

as of the 25th of January 2016, two weeks ago,

but don't take that for granted, because we could go there

and he could have moved out this aft', so...

On top of the crime he's wanted for in Hungary,

their target also has form as a violent offender here in the UK.

Arrested a few times while he's been here in West Yorkshire.

He's been to prison

for three assaults, I think -

I've got to confirm that, but I think it was three assaults.

He's also connected to Barnsley and Beverley.

Not wanting to tip off their man,

Tom parks up the marked police car

and they quickly head towards the address on foot.

As Dave arrives, he stops a man in a dark alley leaving the house...

You all right, mate? Is this your house?

-No.

-No. Are you just visiting? What's your name?

Do you live here?

..but he's not the man they're looking for,

so Dave enters the property to carry on the search...

Hello, police.

Hello?

..heading upstairs in the dark to the bedrooms.

This looks to be the main room here.

So, we have a power to enter a property

to search for wanted persons,

so we've come into the property for that.

Now we're here, and there's nobody here,

we need to establish if a wanted person is living here,

look for his ID, which again we have a power for.

You all right with lighting?

Dave goes back downstairs to question the man

he stopped in the alley outside.

He discovers the man lives in this house,

along with the Hungarian they're looking for.

-He's at work.

-And we don't know where?

No. Normally home about half past nine.

Although they've found the wanted man's house, he's not here.

They've missed him by a few hours.

We can come back later on...

..if he's going to be here.

Will he be home at half past nine,

or does he finish work at half past nine?

Finish work, and then after, he's come.

He'll definitely be coming home?

So what time is he usually home for?

-9.30.

-9.30 he'll be in this house?

It's quarter to seven now, it's nearly seven o'clock,

so two and a half hours you'll see him here?

-Two and a half hours...

-You're not going to ring him?

No, no, no. Just he is coming here.

Right. What does he do, does he do takeaway or driving, or...?

No, he works on a building job.

Building - oh, he's a builder. In Huddersfield?

-In Huddersfield, yes.

-And you don't know where?

-I don't know where.

-All right, take care.

-See you later.

They know that leaving the house is a gamble.

Despite his promise, the man inside could easily warn his housemate

that the police have come looking for him...

..but with a heavy workload to get through,

Dave and Tom need to press on with their next task.

The chap we've just spoken to could notify him, could contact him,

could let him know, he could come home and tell him

that the police have come looking for him,

so it's now a case of we've got to wait and come back

at half nine and hope he's there.

He could do a runner if he knows he's wanted.

He may not, he may be there

and want to know what we need to talk to him for -

but we've lost the element of surprise.

When we make enquiries,

there's the risk that some parts of the community

will seek to conceal the whereabouts of the wanted person,

but there's also that section within the community

who have got the morals to say, "If that person's wanted,

"they can be responsible for their actions,"

and therefore tell us about their subsequent movements.

So will Dave and Tom's gamble come good...

..or could the man they seek be tipped off

about their plan to return to his home?

All right, there's a rear door, as well, at the side.

The criminal gangs of Salford in Greater Manchester

have for years held close ties to Spain.

When the heat at home becomes too much to handle,

some head for a place in the sun.

One of those was Paul Taylor.

He was wanted for breaking two individuals out of a prison van

in Salford - which, in itself, is quite an unusual crime,

and obviously quite a serious one, as well.

In April 2013, a prison van was stuck in Salford rush-hour traffic.

Inside were two men on their way to face trial

at Manchester Crown Court.

A car full of armed men and a motorcyclist were waiting.

We know that the green coloured Saab was parked here

on the left-hand side.

As the prison van approached from Regent Road towards the city centre,

the green car then shot across the junction

and pulled directly in front of the prison van.

The offenders then got out of the car and attacked the prison van

in rush-hour traffic.

It was a daring hijack.

Three men stormed the van,

determined to free two of the prisoners held inside -

members of their own Salford gang.

The men involved were wearing balaclavas,

in possession of a sledgehammer,

a firearm and a pickaxe.

CCTV shows the armed men forcing their way into the van

to release the prisoners,

and using their weapons to threaten the guards.

They were extremely traumatised by this incident.

It was horrific for them - but not only them,

it was rush-hour traffic at the time.

There was a large number of members of the public

sat in their own cars along Regent Road,

behind this van and obviously observed what happened.

The breakout became national headline news.

Two prisoners are on the run

after a gang of masked men ambushed a prison van in Greater Manchester.

It happened during the rush hour.

Police are now trying to find the men.

They are appealing for anyone with any information to get in touch.

Sharp-eyed witnesses spotted the motorcyclist,

who was also caught on CCTV.

Driving a stolen Superbike, but barely visible, was Paul Taylor,

riding pillion in a distinctive red jacket,

one of the escaped prisoners.

Within hours of committing the offence,

Taylor abandoned the motorbike,

called a taxi and fled the country.

He seemed to have planned his escape...

If you're going to break someone out of a prison van, anyway,

I think you're making quite a conscious choice

that you're going to be wanted.

This is a very definite act,

it's not heat of the moment, it's preplanned, it's thought about,

so he must have known that when he did that,

that he would have to go on the run straightaway.

So he was probably prepared to do that, really,

before he even committed the crime.

..but in his haste to escape,

Taylor left damning evidence at a garage near the scene.

They left a motorbike helmet, a leather jacket,

and, crucially, inside that leather jacket was a mobile phone

belonging to Paul Taylor.

The belongings Taylor left at the garage

provided police with a wealth of information

about the rest of the gang,

and some useful clues as to where he might be hiding out.

An examination of his own mobile phone

suggested that he'd been in contact with people in Spain.

We knew that, potentially, some family members owned a bar in Spain,

possibly in Alicante.

Despite the early leads, Taylor was elusive.

For the next ten months he managed to hide out in Spain -

but, by March 2014, the National Crime Agency

were close enough to issue a warrant for his arrest.

Later - how Spanish police

already had their suspicions

about the latest British criminal to arrive on the Costa Blanca.

They thought they were already aware of where Taylor might be,

so once we'd said to the Spanish,

"Look, we think he's probably in your country,"

they said, "We've probably got a lock on him already.

"We might have an idea of where he is."

London - home to the specialist squads of the Metropolitan Police...

Police, can you open the door please?

LETTERBOX RATTLES

..amongst them, the Extradition Unit.

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

Teams of detectives working round-the-clock,

tracking down foreign criminals.

It's a manhunt unit -

we're looking at finding people

rather than investigating the crimes.

This unit hunts for fugitives

here to escape the law in other countries...

All right, this way.

..and brings them in to face justice.

Detective Chief Inspector Julie Bidewell

leads the Extradition Unit.

The intel that we've got on him,

can we start working on that in the meantime?

She's put Detective Sergeant Pete Rance

in charge of a major operation -

codename Absolute.

-OK.

-OK?

-We'll get some research done on it this afternoon.

-Right, lovely.

The aim of the operation is to find and arrest

more than 50 European fugitives in the Greater London area

over two weeks of coordinated action.

We have new cases coming in every day,

so we've always got a backlog.

On average we'll have between 180-280 open cases.

So, if we can increase the number of teams

that we've got going out and knocking on doors,

that enables us to make more arrests and to reduce that backlog.

Quarter to six in the morning, and Operation Absolute is underway.

Whilst Pete and his team head off to Deptford

to search for a wanted Lithuanian,

detectives Jamie Darby and Dave Salmon

are searching the streets of East London for their targets.

Hello, good morning. We're from the police,

we need to speak to the people that live here.

What nationality are you?

-French.

-You're French?

-Yeah.

What about the other people?

We need to speak to everyone here.

-Are you sure?

-Yeah, yeah.

OK.

Essentially, the unit is trying to track down people

that are wanted in foreign countries,

and they're either wanted to serve sentences for criminal offences

or to face trial for criminal offences.

So, day-to-day we're assessing the work that's coming in,

prioritising it, and then sending our teams out

to try and locate, identify and arrest the people that are wanted.

Operation Absolute has the backup of the UK's National Crime Agency -

but even with the best intelligence,

it's not always easy to track down wanted men and women -

as Dave has just discovered.

He's got the exact same name, same year of birth,

so...it's not the same guy.

He looks very similar to the chap, but it...

We've bottomed it out, it's not the same guy.

Detective Sergeant Pete Rance is running the operation.

He's out on the road on the other side of London.

South East London - we're looking for a fella wanted in Lithuania

for criminal damage, smashing up a petrol pump

in a petrol station in Lithuania, back in July 2013.

The house Pete's investigating has several occupants,

and they have to check every room...

Good morning, sorry to trouble you, sir.

We're from the police. You understand?

Yeah, yeah, I understand.

-OK, where are you from?

-I am from Italy.

From Italy?

..but the Lithuanian man Pete's after is no longer here.

He hasn't picked his mail up in over a week,

so my gut feeling is that the guy we've spoken to upstairs

is telling me the truth.

Neither of the teams are having much success so far.

Sometimes it's really easy and very straightforward.

Individuals are expecting to be found

and they don't try and hide too easily.

Others really will keep moving,

every month or two they will change their address,

they will use false identities and it can take us weeks,

months and sometimes years to actually find these individuals.

Searching out fugitives

who continually change identities and addresses takes persistence,

but there are plenty more to go after.

I've got several addresses,

so we won't waste any more time with this one,

we'll go on to the next one now.

I've got another two in Romford,

so we'll see how we get on with them.

Hungary has issued a warrant for your arrest.

Later, things start to look up for Pete and Dave

as the arrests start flowing.

In West Yorkshire,

officers Dave Lockwood and his colleague Tom Allen

are hunting for men and women wanted across Europe.

Earlier they found the home of a man

who has been accused of falsely reporting a crime in Hungary...

Hello, police.

..but when they paid him a visit, he wasn't in.

Will he be home at half past nine,

or does he finish work at half past nine?

He finishes work and then after he comes.

He'll definitely come home?

So what time is usually home for?

-9.30.

-9.30 he'll be in this house?

OK.

The housemate was warned not to tip off the wanted man...

..because Dave and Tom had another important job to do,

and couldn't wait at the address for their man to return.

It's now a case of, we've got to wait

and come back at half nine and hope he's there.

He could do a runner, if he knows he's wanted.

They head off to Leeds to visit another fugitive,

Florin Makowichuk.

He was arrested several months ago

and is to be extradited to Romania

to serve time for driving without a licence.

Currently he's at home on bail.

He is getting extradited on Tuesday the 16th of February,

so we're going to be going to his home address

and we're going to be serving him with these papers.

We're basically going to tell him

he has to surrender himself to officers on Tuesday,

and we'll be taking him to the airport and extraditing him.

The legal process of extraditing criminals can be time-consuming.

Tom and Dave must make sure the Romanian receives legal papers,

telling him he'll be sent home in just four days' time

to serve a 21-month prison sentence.

-Hello.

-Yes.

Is Florin in, please?

-Yeah.

-Hello, Florin, are we all right to come in?

Thank you.

When you last appeared at the City of Westminster Magistrates' Court

the appropriate judge ordered your extradition to Romania.

Arrangements have been made for your extradition from this country

-on Tuesday the 16th of February 2016.

-Yes.

That's four days' time, OK?

You'll be transported in a police vehicle from your home address

to the airport by officers

from West Yorkshire Police - that's our colleagues.

Due to the timings of the flight,

you're required to surrender to the officers

at your home address at 1.20 on Tuesday.

-Here.

-Yes.

-You must be here, OK?

Yeah, it were good.

We've obviously disturbed a family meal he were having.

Perfectly happy, he said he knew about it.

He didn't know exactly what day,

but he knew his extradition had been authorised,

so I don't think we'll have any problem with him.

By the end of the week,

Makowichuk will have been returned to Romania

to serve time for his driving offence,

leaving his partner and children behind in West Yorkshire.

It's not our role to investigate the crimes that occurred

in other European countries.

Our role is to take those people back so that they can face justice.

Later, Tom and Dave are back on the trail of the missing Hungarian...

but will he have been tipped off

that the police are about to pay him a visit?

In April 2013,

24-year-old Paul Taylor was part of a gang of armed men

who staged a daring hijack on a prison van stuck in traffic.

Their mission - to free two prisoners on their way to court.

Taylor helped one prisoner escape on the back of a stolen motorbike.

They were in possession of weapons,

including a sledgehammer and a firearm.

They forced the driver to open the rear of the van

and entered the van inside and threatened the other officer inside.

Ten months later,

the gang and the prisoners who'd escaped

were all facing prosecution -

except for Taylor, who had fled to Spain.

He was involved in organised crime,

and it was likely his life was far better

than it would've been in the UK,

and certainly we didn't want him living the high life in Spain

while his co-defendants were on trial for very serious offences.

When wanted men flee to Europe,

it's the National Crime Agency

who send out their warrant for the arrest.

Taylor's warrant was picked up by Inspector Olga Lizana

at the Spanish police's fugitive unit in Madrid.

Any kind of European arrest warrant or international arrest warrant,

it comes to my office.

So, normally we open around five and eight new cases every day.

That doesn't mean that they're in Spain, but we have to check them.

We arrest about 350 people every year.

Olga enlisted the help of Inspector Jose Luiz,

from the Alicante area's serious crime team to find Paul Taylor.

He knew exactly where to look.

For Olga, Jose Luiz's local knowledge was invaluable.

We couldn't do it without them

because, you know, these guys know the area.

They know all the places, all the small villages,

so we really need their help to arrest the fugitives.

Intelligence from the NCA and Olga's unit

led them to Taylor's father's home

in a town called L'Alfas del Pi, a few miles north of Benidorm.

So, they performed surveillance on a property in the Alicante region

and they thought that, yes, that he was there.

They then surveilled him on what turned out to be a stolen motorcycle

heading down a motorway where he met some of the males at a cafe.

Jose and his colleagues made their move,

arresting the eight men

who were about to tuck into a hearty English breakfast.

Taylor was one of the last to be forced to the ground.

When officers checked the men's paperwork,

they found Taylor was using a false identity.

When he provided fake documentation, they questioned him,

asked for a few background details.

He wasn't able to give a convincing story,

he wasn't able to confirm who he said he was,

so they took him to the police station in Benidorm,

at which point he confirmed, yes, he was Paul Taylor,

and even said at that point

that he was ready to come back to the UK already,

so it didn't look like a lifetime on the run

was going to be cut out for him.

Taylor was extradited to the UK,

where the rest of his gang were already on trial.

Well, the whole team were absolutely elated,

because the trial had already started at that point.

It was still ongoing,

and we knew that we'd actually found him and he'd been located.

For Olga and Jose, it was a great result.

There's such a good cooperation right now

with the British authorities

that we're arresting a lot of British fugitives.

So, if they come here, we'll find them, sooner or later.

They always make a mistake,

and we have to be there just to detect that mistake

and then get them.

When a wanted man or woman is taken into custody,

a DNA swab can be taken,

and their genetic profile added to a police database.

This information has transformed the way crimes are detected.

Most crimes will involve a contact between a victim and an offender.

That means there is a transfer,

or potential transfer, of body fluids

and that means there's an opportunity to do DNA profiling.

In March 2015, a teenager was viciously attacked in Leeds.

She'd been approached by a man.

He'd then picked her up,

lifted her off the ground,

taken her into the garden behind that high hedge...

thrown her to be floor with such force

that she sustained a very nasty injury to her hip and her pelvis.

The woman was then beaten with a rock and raped.

West Yorkshire Police launched a manhunt for the attacker,

who had left DNA at the scene.

They had a very, very dangerous sexual predator

roaming the streets of Leeds,

and, of course, that creates a lot of panic, understandably.

So, the pressure was on us.

We obtained a DNA profile from the offender from the scene

and I suppose we do get very used to science solving offences for us.

Detectives turned to the national DNA database for help.

Introduced in 1995, it was the first of its kind in the world...

It's used every day

in the elimination, but also the matching,

of potential criminals against unsolved crime.

It holds two sets of information, essentially.

DNA profiles taken from material found at a scene of a crime

where there is no known offender,

and DNA taken from people who are arrested,

in the form of a cheek swab,

and the results of that analysis

are uploaded onto the national DNA database.

..but there was no DNA match in the UK for the attacker in Leeds.

The man wasn't a known offender.

Yes, we've got a DNA profile,

but he's not recorded on the national DNA database.

So that horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach

that we had a dangerous sexual predator

and he is somewhere out there,

literally, for me, felt like, you know,

I was searching for that needle in a haystack.

Police decided to carry out a targeted DNA swabbing exercise,

gathering samples from over 1,000 men living near the scene.

Until very recently,

the wait for DNA test results could slow down investigations,

but new technology is being introduced

to help speed up detection.

What these devices do is allow us to take the laboratory

to the scene of crime, or to the custody suite,

and do the analysis real-time

at the point at where the evidence is recovered -

completely transforming the process,

both in terms of time and also where it is conducted.

In Leeds, one of those men sampled was a close match

for the description of the attacker -

but a DNA test showed it wasn't him.

The gut feeling of the detective

was this guy looks very, very much like our rapist.

The DNA came back as not being a match.

The officer still had a bad feeling about him,

but of course the DNA is so specific that it can't lie.

Officers had unwittingly tested the offender's brother -

but why didn't the test indicate

that the man was related to the offender?

When forensic scientists carry out DNA profiling

of brothers or sisters, they'll be very similar in their nature,

but there will be differences.

So if there is a near match,

perhaps from a relative of the perpetrator,

then that may not be generated as a match

from the national DNA database.

With no matches in the UK, it was time to cast the net wider.

Was the man who'd sexually assaulted a Leeds teenager known abroad?

His DNA profile was circulated throughout Europe,

and within hours the offender was identified.

We got a phone call from the Slovakian Embassy saying,

he's a match for a guy called Zdenko Turtak.

"He's your man, what do you want us to do?"

Of course, that was a telephone call

that I'll never, ever forget receiving.

An absolutely amazing feeling.

A European arrest warrant was issued

and Slovakian police traced 22-year-old Turtak

to a Roma settlement called Velka Ida, where he was arrested.

Officers from West Yorkshire Police flew out to bring him back.

That was a major highlight of the investigation,

knowing that we actually had him now,

back within our jurisdiction

and then he can become part of the British judicial process.

With more and more people moving from country to country,

sharing DNA across borders is key to solving crime,

and the science is changing fast.

We now give the power of the analysis to the investigator

to be done in hours,

and that is a complete transformation of the current way,

in terms of forensic DNA profiling is conducted in the United Kingdom.

In court, Zdenko Turtak pleaded guilty to rape

and grievous bodily harm and was sentenced to 20 years.

There was no bigger investigation in West Yorkshire,

and there hadn't been for some years before this.

Ultimately, he was miles away in a different part of Europe

when we arrested him, but arrest him we did, so there is no hiding place.

You will be found, because DNA is such a wonderful,

magnificent investigatory tool for us.

West Yorkshire Police officers Dave Lockwood and Tom Allen

are on their way back to Huddersfield

to a house they visited earlier in the evening.

They're hunting for a man who's been accused of falsely reporting a crime

back home in Hungary.

Hello, police.

Just a few hours ago,

the officers visited the wanted man's house,

but found he wasn't home.

He'll definitely come home - so what time's usually home for?

-9.30.

-9.30 he'll be in this house?

At exactly 9.30, the officers are back.

The man they're after has previously been arrested for assault in the UK.

Tom and Dave can only hope he hasn't been told

that they are looking for him.

-I'll go round the side.

-All right -

there's a rear door, as well, at the side.

There's no answer at the front door.

Hoping they're not out of luck, Dave decides to try around the back.

The back door is open.

Upstairs, Dave finds a person

who matches the description of their wanted man.

-Your ID card, is that your...?

-Yeah.

Yeah. And your last name?

That's you? Right, OK.

Thank you very much for confirming your ID.

Right, I need to give you some bad news.

Unfortunately there's been a European Arrest Warrant

-issued for your arrest.

-Arrest?

From Hungary.

Yeah? There's been a warrant issued for your arrest.

-Hungarian?

-Yeah.

You're now in my care, you're now being arrested.

-We're going to go to the police station, OK?

-Yeah, right.

This paperwork here is a legal copy for you -

it's the European Arrest Warrant.

The first bit's in English.

If you don't read English too well, it's also in Hungarian,

so you can understand why I'm here and what I'm saying to you.

They're saying you have made a false crime report

to Budapest District Police.

I'll give it you in Hungarian so you can read it,

but I just want to get sorted out here,

I just want to try and explain what's happening to you.

-You've not got anything you shouldn't have, have you?

-No.

Any tools, any screwdrivers or owt from work?

Oh! There we are. Owt else you shouldn't have?

-Owt else that's going to hurt me? No, you're good.

-OK.

Right, we'll get you some clothes,

we'll get you changed over, OK?

Talk to your friends, then we'll go to police station

-and get a Hungarian interpreter, OK?

-Yeah.

With the man's history of assault, Dave's not taking any chances.

The prisoner is handcuffed and taken to the police station.

It's all right, you OK?

-You all right?

-Yeah.

I don't know who you are yet,

so I just want to keep everything chilled.

This is yours. You can read it either now or on the way down there,

it's in Hungarian,

and it basically tells you what you've been arrested for, OK?

With the cuffs off,

the suspect's fingerprints are taken and sent to Hungary

to confirm they have the right man.

So, when I've taken these fingerprints,

once I've finished, within a few minutes

it's going to confirm that you're the wanted person in Hungary.

Two thumbs like this, two thumbs on there.

Once Dave is 100% sure of the arrested man's identity,

he'll be taken to court.

The offence he's accused of in Hungary is relatively minor,

so it will now be up to the judge to decide

if he should be sent home to face trial.

Across London,

detectives from the Metropolitan Police's Extradition Unit

are conducting a special operation,

a series of early morning strikes

with the aim of arresting up to 50 wanted fugitives.

It's the police. Can you open the door, please?

The National Crime Agency is also part of the operation,

and for the past few weeks,

their officers have been seeking out intelligence

on the men and women wanted in other European countries.

When we get an incoming warrant, from wherever jurisdiction,

the first thing we do is run it through the UK systems,

Police National Computer, Police National Database.

We're looking for a UK connection.

And if we get, however small, a UK connection -

so something that identifies that the individual's here

or has been here - then we do further work.

So trying to identify where people are through telephone,

through working with police forces, working with informants,

working with social media,

take your pick. Anything...

and also the other government departments,

so tax office, health service, etc, those sort of things.

If the individual is of such a significant risk,

then the range of what we do

goes from the very, very minor to the quite intrusive.

But even with the latest intelligence,

so far this morning there have been no arrests...

DOG BARKS

Hello, it's the police. Can you open the door, please?

..but their persistence is about to pay off.

Detective Sergeant Pete Rance is after a man who's wanted in Hungary.

It's a Hungarian warrant.

This guy's wanted for using a stolen credit card

to go on a spending spree,

and...also for...

a burglary, so we're going to make an approach to the address.

Hopefully he'll be in, and if he is, we'll arrest him.

The man who is wanted to stand trial in Hungary

has been accused of theft and fraud.

After much searching, Pete finds the address he's looking for.

It's a house where each room is rented out separately.

Hello?

Hello? It's the police.

-Hello.

-OK, nothing to worry about.

-Yeah?

-I just need to know who lives in this room.

I'm from the police.

Can I come in?

There's, erm...

-Hungary...

-Yeah?

-Yes?

-Do you speak English?

-No.

-A little bit... Hungary has issued a warrant for your arrest.

OK, it doesn't mean he's in trouble in this country,

but he has to come with us and go to court in London,

and then a judge has to decide if you stay here

or if you go back to Hungary.

Now, Pete needs to get his man in front of a judge

as soon as possible.

In extradition, people have to be at court as soon as practicable,

and that's generally recognised as being there within a 24-hour period.

That means if you were to arrest somebody

at six o'clock in the morning, for example,

they have to be at court that day,

and the cut-off time for court is two o'clock in the afternoon.

If you don't get them there by two o'clock in the afternoon,

it's quite...you know, the law is quite specific

that the judge can discharge the case.

The suspected thief is taken to Charing Cross police station,

where his identity is confirmed.

From there it's a short journey to the Magistrates' Court,

where his case will be heard.

Across town, detectives Jamie Darby and Dave Salmon

are on the trail of a woman wanted for stealing money

from her employer in Portugal...

There's no photograph and there's no fingerprints,

I don't think, so we'll have to play it by ear.

..and identification is critical.

The ID's probably the most crucial thing...

If she says it's not her, then...

we've got to prove that it is her.

So if there is no photograph to sort of confirm who she is,

you need a passport or ID card, really.

Because when we put them before the judge at court,

we've got to say that it's definitely that person.

The name they have on the arrest warrant is quite a mouthful...

..Maria Isabel da Silva Albuquerque da Cruz.

She's been convicted of forgery

and embezzlement in Portugal

and was sentenced to three years

in prison back in 2010.

Hello, mate, sorry to bother you, police officer.

Sorry, what's going on?

I just need to come in and speak to your mum, that's all.

OK.

Maria, can you just confirm your name for me?

-Maria Isabel da Silva Albuquerque.

-And your date of birth?

3rd of August, '63.

OK. Maria, there's a warrant out for your arrest in Portugal, OK?

-There's a European Arrest Warrant.

-Oh, you're joking!

-No.

What's going to happen, listen,

what's going to happen is, she's got to come with us.

We're going to take her to the police station to book her in,

and then we'll to take her straight to court.

The judge will ask her

-if she wants to go back to Portugal or not.

-You're joking.

You're going to have to get dressed and come with us this morning, OK?

-But now?

-Yes, now.

The detectives are convinced they have the right woman...

..but they'll need to take her to the police station to be sure.

We're off to Belgravia police station.

As usual we will take fingerprints,

photograph and DNA and just process the lady.

It should take about half an hour.

Take her up to Westminster Magistrates.

So, normally you get it done within an hour and a half.

Once they arrive, she is checked in by the desk sergeant.

There's an extradition lawyer at court for you free of charge.

And there'll be... Do you want an interpreter there or not?

-No.

-Are you sure?

-Mm.

-OK.

Anyone arrested and brought into custody

is thoroughly checked against the records

to find out if there are any previous convictions

or other outstanding warrants for their arrest.

She's never been arrested before in this country,

so just to see if she comes back

with committing any further offences.

Finally, a sample of the woman's DNA and her photograph are taken,

so that all her details are now on record.

Obviously, if you're a fugitive,

you're not necessarily going to keep the same date of birth

or even the same first name -

you may change things around just a little bit,

just to try and throw people off the scent,

that you're the person that's actually wanted

in a foreign country.

So it's really important for us

to check out all of the information we get.

With her identity finally confirmed,

Maria Isabel da Silva Albuquerque da Cruz

is taken to Westminster Magistrates' Court,

where a judge will decide her fate.

Five months after her arrest,

da Cruz was extradited back to Portugal

to serve her prison sentence for forgery and embezzlement.

In December 2016,

the Hungarian authorities decided to withdraw the warrant

issued for the man accused of theft and fraud

who was arrested in London 11 months previously -

and three months after this Hungarian man was arrested

by Dave and Tom in Huddersfield,

a judge at the extradition court

ruled that it would be against his human rights

to extradite him back to Hungary,

because of the minor nature of his alleged crimes.

Not so for serious criminal Paul Taylor.

In April 2014,

he was sentenced to five years and four months in prison

for his part in the armed raid on a prison van.