98 | The Manhunt for Barry Prudom: The Phantom of the Forest Murders

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On Thursday seventeenth of June nineteen eighty two, Police Constable
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David Hay left Harrogate Police Station in North Yorkshire at
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around seven thirty a m. He was en route to
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deliver a court summons to a poacher, traveling through Norwood
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Edge in Naresborough Forest, about thirty minutes from Leeds. As
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he passed the Warren Point beauty spot, he noticed the
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green Citron GSX two in the car park. It was
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unusual for sightseers to be there so early on a weekday,
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so Hey pulled over to check on the driver. Inside
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the car, a scruffy man with curly dark hair and
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a tan complexion was asleep in the driver's seat, roaring
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an olive green military style jacket. Hay knocked on the window,
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startling him awake. Suspicious that he was up to no good,
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the constable asked for his name and date of birth,
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noting them on his clipboard. He turned back towards his
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patrol car to radio in the detail, not hearing the
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man get out of the car behind him, A single
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shot from a twenty two caliber Bretta pistol echoed through
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the woodland. P C. Hay fell to the ground, and
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the gunman got back into his citron and drove away.
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Hello and welcomed a pressure's murder map. By nine thirty am,
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hayes colleagues were concerned he wasn't responding to radio calls,
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so PC Mick Klipston was sent to look for him.
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Retracing his route, he arrived at Warren Point at around
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ten am, finding the patrol car bandit with the driver's
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door open. A short distance away. PC hay lay on
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the ground a gunshot wound to the center of his forehead.
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Clipston immediately called for an ambulance and back up. As
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he waited, his thoughts turned to twenty nine year old
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Hayes family, his wife and three sons, age eleven, eight
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and three. Then something caught his eye. A corner of
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paper was protruding from beneath Hayes's body. He'd fallen on
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his clipboard, which still held a sheet of notepaper. The
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bloodstained page read Clive Jones, date of birth, eighteenth of
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October nineteen forty four, Leeds no fixed a dress car
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registration KYF three two six P. There was no weapon
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at the scene, so the killer still had the gun
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and he had also taken PC Hayes's handcuffs.
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Es.
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The investigation was led by North Yorkshire's Chief Constable Kenneth Henshaw.
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When officers ran the name Clive Jones through the Police
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National Computer, they found hundreds of matches nationwide, but a
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breakthrough came via the car. The Citron had been purchased
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five months earlier in a shady cash deal at a
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London underground station. The dealer remembered the buyer and described
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him as a man in his early thirties with a
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Northern accent. He'd given a bogus name, R. D. Carlyle
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and said he'd just returned from working on an oil
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rig and was heading back up north. At this stage,
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the police had no idea that the case would become
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the biggest manhunt the UK had seen at that time.
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Over the next two and a half weeks, officers would
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track him across the country in an extraordinary operation involving
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hundreds of armed police specialist wilderness tracker and further casualties.
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Three days later, a farmer found the Citron abandoned in
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a wheat field twenty five miles from Warren Point, with
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the registration matching the one he had seen at Warren Point,
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forensic teams found no fingerprints on the vehicle had been
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wiped clean, suggesting a suspect who was methodical and experienced
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in covering his tracks. After abandoning his car, the fugitive
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travels seventy miles south into Lincolnshire, partly on foot and
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partly by hitchhiking, Still carrying the barreta pistol and a
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duffel bag containing a radio, binoculars, a knife, and a machete,
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he hid in Lawton Forest over the weekend, an area
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spanning around one thousand acres, but eventually hunger forced him
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to emerge. Using his binoculars, he watched an isolated cottage
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in the small parish of Blyton car When he was
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satisfied that only one elderly woman lived there, he broke
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in after dark, cut the telephone line and forced her
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to cook him egg in chips, before tying her up
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and gagging her. He told her he was sorry, took
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four pounds from her purse, and disappeared into the night.
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The seventy five year old, whose name was Vida Jackson,
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managed to free herself and alert the police, who suspected
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that her attacker and the killer of P. C. Hay
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were one and the same. By now, the gunman had
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vanished into the woods. His ability to evade law enforcement
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seemed almost supernatural, and the media began calling him the Phantom.
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The shooter, still assumed at this point to be Clive Jones,
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brought four miles south to the town of Gainsborough, where
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a thunderlift from a husband and wife. The couple only
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realized later who he might be and contacted the police.
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The driver reported that he looked like a serviceman and
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was about thirty to thirty five years old, with dark
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curly hair, a tan complexion and narrow forehead, bushy eyebrows
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and a quiet, reserved demeanor. They dropped him off in
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the village of Torksey, on the border of Lincolnshire Nottinghamshire.
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Around the same time, a local gamekeeper came forward about
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a week earlier, he had found a man living in
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a makeshift shelter in Lawton Forest with a green citron
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park nearby. The gamekeeper had told him to move on
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as it was private land, but he was able to
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give the police a more detailed description. Brown gloves, tan shoes,
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blue jeans, a blue beanie hat and a light colored
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Duffel bag, but the information came too late and the
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fountom of the forest had already moved on. Over the
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next few days, the fugitive spent the daylight hours resting,
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then moved at night under cover of darkness, drifting south
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into nottingham shere and entering the village of Girton just
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before dawn on Wednesday, twenty third June. He made his
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way through the narrow lanes until he reached an isolated
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cottage belonging to fifty four year old army veteran and
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electrician George Luckett and his wife Sylvia. At around five am,
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a neighbor, Rita Ward, was woken by her dog barking.
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She went into the kitchen and saw Sylvia banging desperately
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on the window, her face covered in blood. Rita rushed
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to help her inside, noticing that blood has soaked through
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Sylvia's clothes and that she was barefoot. When the paramedics arrived,
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they realized that Sylvia had been shot in the head,
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and she was taken to hospital for emergency surgery. Meanwhile,
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police forced entry into the Luckett's cottage, finding George dead inside.
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Doctors later said it was remarkable that Sylvia had survived
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and managed to drag herself three hundred yards across a
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field to reach help. After life saving surgery, Sylvia was
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able to give a description of her attacker, which matched
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the man police were already looking for, but she could
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remember little about the incident. Detectives reconstructed the crime and
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deduced that the man on the run had been trying
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to steal the lucket's car. When he was disturbed. He
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forced George and Sylvia back into the house and cut
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the phone line, then tied George up and ordered Sylvia
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to make him a cup of tea and a sandwich.
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At some point, George managed to free himself and retrieve
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his shotgun. He crept past the glazed kitchen door, looking
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for an opportunity to catch the intruder off guard, but
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the gunman spotted him and fired through the glass door,
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killing him instantly. Sylvia was shot as she tried to escape,
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suffering life changing injuries. The phantom took no money from
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their home, but drove away in their brown Rover SD
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one registration VAU eight seven five S. Ballistics confirmed that
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the bullets used in the attack on the Luckets matched
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the one that killed p C. Hay and the investigation
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widened into a cross country operation, with forces from Lincolnshire,
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nottingham Shere and North Yorkshire working together. Search teams swept
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through Torksey, going house to house, but the fugitive was
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already on the move again, heading back towards North Yorkshire.
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His destination was Dorby Forest, a densely wooded area covering
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more than twenty five square miles with a network of
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tracks and paths winding through the hills and dales. At
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five point thirty pm on Thursday twenty four for GUI
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dog handler PC Ken Oliver was on control when he
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spotted the stolen brown rover parked in a lay by.
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He pulled up behind it and began to get out
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of his van, but didn't even have time to call
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for back up. The door of the rover opened and
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the driver opened fire. A bullet grazed Oliver's nose, knocking
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him to the ground. He scrambled up and ran for
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his vehicle, but the shooter followed and wounded him in
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the arm. Oliver had fourteen years service and remembered his training,
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staying low and using the van for cover when he
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reached the rear door. He opened it and his Alsatian
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charged at the attacker, but was hit by a bullet,
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and that brief moment gave Oliver the chance to break away.
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Though a final round struck him the back as he ran,
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the distance reduced the impact and he managed to reach
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a nearby cottage. On the way, he came across two
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young girls playing and ushered them indoors, warning the startled
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homeowners to lock all the doors and windows. From the
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safety of the house, he called the police to report
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the attack. The shooter had already lost interest in Oliver
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and was covering his tracks before reinforcements arrived. He ripped
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out the radio from the police fan and set fire
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to the stolen rover, making sure the blaze had taken
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hold before leaving. When back up arrived, they found nothing
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but the burnt out shell of the car. The Desperado
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had vanished into the forest. PC Ken, Oliver and his
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dog both survived, but Oliver was left deeply affected by
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the incident and eventually left the force. His description of
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the attacker matched earlier sightings, but police still had no
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confirmed identity. Detective Sergeant Jim Kilmartin led search teams dogs
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deep into Dorby Forest, where they discovered two concealed hides
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camouflaged with vegetation, where the killer had laid low. But
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the dogs struggled to pick up the scent as he
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had gone to great lengths to lay force trails. An
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armed response unit was called in from York, but by
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the time they arrived two hours later, the trail had
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already gone cold. Four hundred and fifty officers were deployed
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in squads to comb every square mile of the forest.
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An ARIF search and rescue helicopter joined the operation, and
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road checkpoints were set up to stop and question every
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motorist entering or leaving the area. Marksmen were positioned in
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the trees, and police sharpshooters commandeered a forestry commissioned tower
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as a vantage point. The search continued day and night,
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and residents and holidaymakers in and around the forest were
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advised to leave until the suspect was captured. The number
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of officers on the case rose to eight hundred, would
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support from neighboring forces, though only a small proportion were armed.
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Just two percent carried pistols or rifles, many of them outdated,
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described by one officer as looking like something from a museum.
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Even today, firearms are rarely used in policing in Britain,
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with less than five percent of the country's police force
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authorized to carry them. For a man hunt on this scale,
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resources were stretched, with conditions in the frost making the
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search even more difficult. It was a chilly, wet summer
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in the north of England and mist had reduced visibility
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to just a few yards. Photographers and journalists flocked to
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the scene, and the public were glued to the dramatic
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TV coverage, but despite the heavy police presence, the gunmen
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remained at large. Unknown to law enforcement. He was using
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the survivorst tactic of laying low, choosing a hiding place
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and staying in the same position for hours to conserve
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energy search as combed the forest around him, unaware they
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were being observed from the undergrowth. Back at headquarters. PC
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Martin Hatton had a theory. He suspected the killer had
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almost certainly given a false name to p C. Hay
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at Warren Point, but he pointed out that a date
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of birth is harder to invent on the spot. If
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he found some one on the warrant list with the
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same birthday as upone written on a hay's clip board.
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They might have the killer's real name. His hunch paid
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off he found a match Barry Edwards born eighteenth of
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October nineteen forty four, wanted for wounding a motrist with
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a tire iron in a roadside dispute. He showed the
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mugshot to p. C. Ken Oliver, who said he would
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never forget the eyes of the man who shot him.
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He didn't hesitate. It was the man. Police raided the
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address link to Barry Edwards and uncovered his real identity.
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He was Barry Pruden, a thirty seven year old former electrician.
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Officers located his girlfriend, Carol Francis and her mother and
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brought them in for questioning, and over the next few
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hours a clearer picture began to emerge of the assassin
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they were hunting. Barry Peter Edwards was born to Kathleen Edwards,
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a twenty three year old dressmaker from Glamorgan, and Joseph
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Peter Carrillo, a chemist from Leeds. One secondary source claims
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that Joseph was a soldier, but this has not been verified.
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They had met as teenagers aged fifteen and were engaged
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by the time they were twenty when Kathleen became pregnant.
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A wedding was hastily arranged, but Joseph never turned up,
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playing no further role in his son's life. Family friend
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later said that Kathleen did her best to raise Barry
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under difficult circumstances, and a few years later she married
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a Yorkshireman named Alec Prudom, and Barry took his stepfather's name.
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In nineteen fifty Kathleen and Alec had a son, Derek,
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who was Barry's stepbrother. Barry attended Meanwood Secondary School in Leeds.
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As a teenager, he came to the attention of the
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police for house breaking in theft, but avoided jail time
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due to his age. He left school at sixteen with
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a mediocre record and became an apprentice electrician. In nineteen
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sixty five, aged twenty one, he married Gillian Wilson and
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they had a daughter the following year, followed by son
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in nineteen seventy. Barry had a strong interest in the
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military and enlisted as an SAS reservist, completing a six
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week training course which included firearms and survival skills. He
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was bitterly disappointed when he was rejected for further service.
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Due to his dislike of authority, Barry saved enough money
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from his job to buy a small grocer's shop, setting
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Jilling up in business. They lived in a flat above
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the shop, and everyone who knew Barry described him as quiet,
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sensitive and caring. There were no obvious signs of violence, substance, misuse,
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or instability. He was even granted security clearance to work
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as an electrician at military sites across the UK. One
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of these jobs involved helping to build an American communications
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space just outside Harrogate, just two hundred yards from the
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spot where p C. David Hay would later be killed.
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In nineteen seventy three, Barry's mother, Kathleen Prudham, then fifty two,
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came to visit him and his wife in their home
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above the grocer's shop. He was getting dark by the
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end of the visit, so Barry offered to drive her home.
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Kathleen insisted on walking. On the way home, she was mugged.
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She wasn't physically harmed, but Barry took the news hard.
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A friend later recalled he always felt very guilty about this,
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saying that if he had been firm and taken her home,
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it would not have happened. He would not listen to
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arguments that it was not his fault. Not long afterwards,
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Kathleen told her family she was going away for a
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week to stay at a hotel in Folkeston on the
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Kent Coast, paying for her room in advance. Five days later,
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her body was found washed ashore and her death was
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ruled a suicide. Barry wept openly at the inquest, and
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those close to him said he struggled with grief for
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a long time afterwards. In the years that followed, Barry
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worked as a contract electrician at a Saudi Arabian oil field,
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the generous salary allowing him to invest more money Gillian's
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grocery business. While he was abroad, he received a letter
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from Shirley Roberts, a friend of his wife, who broke
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the news at Gillian had been having an affair while
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he was working overseas. When he returned to England in
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nineteen seventy six, his marriage was over. His aunt Gwyneth
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00:19:21.680 --> 00:19:25.480
later recalled finding him in tears. When she asked what
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was wrong, he replied, what can I do? I still
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love her. Barry later began a relationship with seventeen year
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old Carol Francis. She was sixteen years younger than him
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and lived with her mother, Enid in Leeds. Despite the
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age difference, Enid thought highly of her daughter's boyfriend and
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described Barry as mild mannered, polite, and never boastful. Carol's
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brother also approved of the introverted Prudom, even though he
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00:19:55.400 --> 00:20:00.880
didn't reveal much about his past. Together, Barry and Carroll
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00:20:01.079 --> 00:20:04.599
led a nomadic lifestyle, drifting from town to town in
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00:20:04.640 --> 00:20:08.599
an orange and white VW camper van, taking casual jobs
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00:20:08.640 --> 00:20:12.200
here and there. At one point they traveled to Canada
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and later to Colorado Springs in the United States, where
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they camped close to an air defense facility. It was
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during this trip that Barry bought a twenty two caliber
294
00:20:22.240 --> 00:20:25.480
Bretta pistol, which he later managed to smuggle back into
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00:20:25.480 --> 00:20:30.920
Britain without Carroll's knowledge and without it being detected by customs.
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In May nineteen eighty two, Barry got into an argument
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00:20:35.720 --> 00:20:39.279
with another driver, which culminated in him striking the man
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with a tire iron. He was due to appear at
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Leeds Crown Caught to face an assault charge, but failed
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to attend, and a warrant was issued for his arrest,
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he didn't tell Carol, instead saying he'd been offered another
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00:20:53.839 --> 00:20:56.759
job in Saudi Arabia, so she returned to Leeds to
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00:20:56.759 --> 00:21:00.680
stay with her mother, but rather than boarding a plane
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00:21:00.720 --> 00:21:07.240
for the Middle East, Barry went on the run. Now
305
00:21:07.279 --> 00:21:10.039
the police knew who they were looking for, their sole
306
00:21:10.160 --> 00:21:13.319
focus was to find Prudam and bring him in, but
307
00:21:13.440 --> 00:21:16.279
he continued to evade them. In the low visibility and
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00:21:16.359 --> 00:21:21.160
swirling mists of Dorby Forest, he trudged six miles south
309
00:21:21.200 --> 00:21:24.759
on foot, and on Monday twenty eighth of June, suffering
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00:21:24.799 --> 00:21:29.079
badly from blisters, he hobbled into Old Morton, a Yorkshire
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00:21:29.160 --> 00:21:33.759
village surrounded by farms and woodland. People who spotted him
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from a distance thought he was older than he was
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00:21:36.720 --> 00:21:41.240
due to his disheveled, unshaven appearance. He wore a blue
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00:21:41.319 --> 00:21:44.119
hat pulled low over his eyes and carried a duffel
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00:21:44.160 --> 00:21:48.519
bag with a radio aerial sticking out. He entered a
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local news agent without attracting attention and brought some suites. Then,
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at around two pm, he went in the village post office,
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00:21:56.599 --> 00:22:00.960
which also served as a small grocery shop. The owner,
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00:22:01.160 --> 00:22:05.839
Leo Burke, later told the police he bought sausage rolls,
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00:22:05.880 --> 00:22:08.440
a loaf of bread, a can of pilchards and some
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00:22:08.519 --> 00:22:11.720
other items of food. He looked like a very ordinary,
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00:22:11.799 --> 00:22:15.119
mold mannered man. I did not see him carrying any weapons.
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The local police had been worn to stay alert for
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strangers in the area, so when Sergeant David Winter saw
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Prudam leaving the post office, he decided to approach him
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00:22:28.599 --> 00:22:31.720
crossed the road. Constable Mick Wood from the Traffic Division
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00:22:32.000 --> 00:22:36.680
noticed his colleague heading towards the man. Seconds later, Winter
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turned and ran, with a shabby figure in pursuit. The
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00:22:41.039 --> 00:22:44.960
two disappeared from view, followed by the sound of three gunshots.
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Wood ran towards the sound. When he reached a low
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stone wall near a row of cottages, he found Sergeant
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Winter lying dead on the grass, shot once in the
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neck and twice in their head. He was thirty one
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years old and the father of a one year old daughter.
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The scene was just two hundred yards from the local
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police station, but Prudom had already escaped. Old Morton now
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00:23:17.119 --> 00:23:20.720
became the nerve center of the largest manhunt the UK
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00:23:21.039 --> 00:23:25.599
had ever seen. At that time. Reinforcements poured in and
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marksmen were posted on every corner. Shops were surrounded and
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customers were ordered to come out with their hands up.
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Two police helicopters circled overhead, while rods were sealed off
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and motorists were stopped at checkpoints, but Barry Prudham was
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not among them. Help soon came from a surprising quarter.
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Expert survivalists, former Essays paratrooper and martial artist Eddie McGhee
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offered to assist the investigation as a civilian volunteer. He
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00:24:01.720 --> 00:24:05.759
was an experienced tracker and ran survival courses teaching people
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how to find safe drinking water, build shelters, hunt and
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follow trails. He had learned many of these skills from
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indigenous communities around the world, including Borneo and Yemen. It
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emerged that bar Prudam had attended one of McGee's courses
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and had even bought a signed copy of his book,
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No Need to Die. The implication was concerning the man
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they were hunting knew how to camouflage himself and live
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off the land for days or even weeks. Chief Constable
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00:24:40.559 --> 00:24:44.559
Henshaw decided to fight fire with fire and accepted the offer,
356
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despite reservations from some other senior officers who were skeptical
357
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of McGee's abilities. The hunt would now become a battle
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of wits between teacher and student. McGhee's first discovery was
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00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:03.759
a goat on a nearby farm. He believed it had
360
00:25:03.799 --> 00:25:07.799
been milked within the last ten minutes, most likely by prudom.
361
00:25:09.759 --> 00:25:14.000
Their efforts were hampered by a constant stream of reported sightings,
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00:25:14.039 --> 00:25:17.279
sometimes up to fifty a day, and every single one
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00:25:17.279 --> 00:25:21.440
was followed up. On one occasion, a helicopter was dispatched
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00:25:21.440 --> 00:25:24.319
to a field, only to find that the scruffy looking
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figure who'd been spotted there was just a scarecrow. Margaret
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Wolston Home, a reporter for the Morton Gazette, later described
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00:25:34.640 --> 00:25:41.200
the situation bluntly. I don't think anybody knew what to do.
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I don't know how much brain was actually applied to
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00:25:44.319 --> 00:25:45.039
what was going on.
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There was this sense of people rushing around like chickens
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with no heads.
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According to Wolston Home, people in the community were far
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from convinced by expert tracker Eddie McGhee, with some residents
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00:25:57.440 --> 00:26:00.799
nicknaming him mister Magoo off the show, a short sighted
375
00:26:00.839 --> 00:26:08.680
American cartoon character. Frustration was growing, no matter how much
376
00:26:08.799 --> 00:26:13.039
manpower was allocated to Morton. There was still no trace
377
00:26:13.079 --> 00:26:16.039
of the man who had gunned down two police officers,
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00:26:16.559 --> 00:26:19.440
shot a husband and wife in their home and taken
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00:26:19.480 --> 00:26:25.160
an elderly woman hostage. Suddenly, a single shot rang out
380
00:26:25.240 --> 00:26:29.640
near the police station. The press dived for cover, feeling
381
00:26:29.640 --> 00:26:33.039
that Pruden was launching an assault on the TV news cruise,
382
00:26:34.160 --> 00:26:38.200
but there were no further shots. Many years later, it
383
00:26:38.279 --> 00:26:41.839
came to light that an inspector had accidentally discharged his
384
00:26:41.960 --> 00:26:45.440
gun into the roof of his own police car. To
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00:26:45.519 --> 00:26:49.680
avoid embarrassment, Chief Constable Henshaw allowed the media to believe
386
00:26:49.680 --> 00:26:55.200
the shot really had come from the fugitive. Over the
387
00:26:55.240 --> 00:27:00.039
following days, McGee continued to track prudom across the countryside,
388
00:27:00.279 --> 00:27:04.440
searching for broken twigs and disturbed spider webs to indicate
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00:27:04.480 --> 00:27:09.519
the killer's movements. Around eighty officers traveled with him, which
390
00:27:09.559 --> 00:27:14.839
often worked against their efforts by disturbing potential tracers. In fact,
391
00:27:15.119 --> 00:27:19.079
Pruden was hiding in plain sight. For the previous forty
392
00:27:19.079 --> 00:27:22.000
eight hours. He had been less than three hundred yards
393
00:27:22.000 --> 00:27:25.559
from Old Morton Police Station, lurking behind the Tennis and
394
00:27:25.599 --> 00:27:28.640
Bowls Club in a makeshift hide out built from old
395
00:27:28.680 --> 00:27:32.279
fence panels. He slept there during the day under a
396
00:27:32.319 --> 00:27:35.160
blue tar paul in venturing out at night to eat
397
00:27:35.279 --> 00:27:40.240
tin cat food from an unlocked shed near by. Prudham
398
00:27:40.319 --> 00:27:43.880
knew he needed more nutritious food to sustain him, as
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00:27:43.880 --> 00:27:46.920
well as somewhere safe to wash and inspect his blistered feet.
400
00:27:48.599 --> 00:27:51.160
At around five p m. On Saturday, third of July,
401
00:27:51.759 --> 00:27:54.319
he broke into the home of Morris and Bessie Johnson.
402
00:27:55.519 --> 00:27:58.799
Morris was a retired painter and decorator, and the couple
403
00:27:58.839 --> 00:28:01.559
had an adult son, Brian, who was out at their
404
00:28:01.640 --> 00:28:06.359
allotment collecting eggs from their chickens. When Bessie went into
405
00:28:06.400 --> 00:28:09.119
the dining room to prepare the evening meal, she was
406
00:28:09.160 --> 00:28:12.960
confronted by a man pointing a gun at her. He
407
00:28:13.039 --> 00:28:16.279
was around five foot eight with dark curly hair, blue eyes,
408
00:28:16.319 --> 00:28:20.160
and a slim build with several days beard growth, high
409
00:28:20.200 --> 00:28:25.559
cheek bones, a tan complexion, and tattooed forearms. Even with
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00:28:25.640 --> 00:28:28.839
the village on high alert for an armed fugitive, Bessie's
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00:28:28.880 --> 00:28:32.960
first reaction was not fear but confusion. Assuming it was
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00:28:33.000 --> 00:28:37.160
some kind of prank, He asked her, do you know
413
00:28:37.200 --> 00:28:38.440
who I am?
414
00:28:38.880 --> 00:28:38.920
No?
415
00:28:39.039 --> 00:28:43.839
I don't, Bessie replied she was genuinely surprised to discover
416
00:28:43.960 --> 00:28:46.720
that this was Barry Pruden, the man who had been
417
00:28:46.759 --> 00:28:51.400
invading North Yorkshire Police for weeks. She later said he
418
00:28:51.440 --> 00:28:54.920
looked nothing like his circulated mugshot and that his eyes
419
00:28:54.920 --> 00:29:00.400
were warm and kind. The intruder bound Bessie in Morris's
420
00:29:00.440 --> 00:29:03.480
hands and feet, then waited for their son to return.
421
00:29:04.880 --> 00:29:07.880
Brian arrived home at six thirty pm and was about
422
00:29:07.880 --> 00:29:09.839
to put the eggs down in the kitchen when he
423
00:29:09.880 --> 00:29:12.279
came face to face with the barrel of Prudam's gun.
424
00:29:13.839 --> 00:29:16.799
His instinct was to run towards the living room, calling
425
00:29:16.799 --> 00:29:21.240
out for his parents. You did the right thing, Pruden
426
00:29:21.279 --> 00:29:24.680
told him. If you'd run the other way towards the door,
427
00:29:25.200 --> 00:29:31.000
you'd have a bullet in your head. The Johnson's had
428
00:29:31.039 --> 00:29:35.799
the impression that despite his words, Pruden seemed relieved that
429
00:29:35.920 --> 00:29:39.880
he had not been forced to shoot. Brian was tied
430
00:29:39.960 --> 00:29:42.839
up next to his parents while Pruden watched the latest
431
00:29:42.880 --> 00:29:47.640
news bulletins on TV about the search. Eddie McGee can't
432
00:29:47.680 --> 00:29:53.279
track me, he told the family, but I can track him.
433
00:29:53.359 --> 00:29:56.640
Maurice urged Barry to give himself up, but Pruden warned
434
00:29:56.720 --> 00:29:59.799
him if you ring the police, they'll come in here
435
00:30:00.039 --> 00:30:04.720
and shoot us all. He untied Bessie and asked her
436
00:30:04.759 --> 00:30:08.319
to make sandwiches for everyone, then released Morris and Brian
437
00:30:08.640 --> 00:30:12.400
so they could all eat comfortably. He then went up
438
00:30:12.400 --> 00:30:15.759
to the bathroom to wash his blistered feet, leaving his
439
00:30:15.920 --> 00:30:19.960
pistol on the living room table. Did he trust the
440
00:30:20.039 --> 00:30:22.640
Johnson's not to turn the tables on him with his
441
00:30:22.680 --> 00:30:26.000
own gun or was there a part of him that
442
00:30:26.119 --> 00:30:32.119
wanted the ordeal to end one way or another. Pruden
443
00:30:32.160 --> 00:30:35.480
spent the next ten hours with the family, eventually leaving
444
00:30:35.519 --> 00:30:40.119
at three am on Sunday, fourth of July. Before leaving,
445
00:30:40.519 --> 00:30:43.519
he asked Bessie to make him some more sandwiches, which
446
00:30:43.559 --> 00:30:47.160
he called his last supper. He gave Brian a United
447
00:30:47.200 --> 00:30:50.119
States paratrooper ring and asked him to promise that he
448
00:30:50.119 --> 00:30:54.880
would wear it. Before tying them up again, Prudham shook
449
00:30:54.920 --> 00:30:58.039
hands with each of them and thanked them for their hospitality.
450
00:31:00.079 --> 00:31:03.039
The last thing he said before slipping away into the
451
00:31:03.160 --> 00:31:08.079
night was it's nice to meet such nice people. I
452
00:31:08.119 --> 00:31:14.599
didn't realize such people existed. The Johnsons managed to free
453
00:31:14.640 --> 00:31:17.799
themselves after two hours and went straight to Old Morton
454
00:31:17.839 --> 00:31:22.279
police station. Police officers and dogs fanned out across the
455
00:31:22.359 --> 00:31:28.200
village while choppers continued the search. Overhead. Eddie McGhee, accompanied
456
00:31:28.200 --> 00:31:32.319
by Detective Sergeant Jim Kilmartin and two armed officers, picked
457
00:31:32.359 --> 00:31:36.640
up the trail from the Johnson's house. Snapped branches and
458
00:31:36.680 --> 00:31:39.480
a footprint in the soil led them to a derelict
459
00:31:39.480 --> 00:31:43.359
wooden fence propped against the seven foot high wall behind
460
00:31:43.400 --> 00:31:48.799
the Tennis and Bowls Club. McGee moved closer and spotted
461
00:31:48.799 --> 00:31:51.799
a blue sheet protruding from the side of the makeshift shelter.
462
00:31:53.440 --> 00:31:56.960
He took another step forward, then abruptly jumped back as
463
00:31:57.000 --> 00:32:00.759
a booted foot emerged from the structure. He signaled to
464
00:32:00.799 --> 00:32:04.160
kill Martin that they had found their target, then withdrew
465
00:32:04.240 --> 00:32:09.960
to allowed armed officers to take over. Detective Sergeant kil
466
00:32:10.039 --> 00:32:13.720
Martin shouted to Pruden to give himself up, but there
467
00:32:13.720 --> 00:32:18.279
was no reply. Around seventy armed officers with handguns and
468
00:32:18.400 --> 00:32:23.920
armorlite rifles moved into position around the Bowls Club. Chief
469
00:32:23.960 --> 00:32:28.519
Inspector David Clarkson, protected by a riot shield, crawled across
470
00:32:28.559 --> 00:32:32.039
the bowling Green and climbed the perimeter wall, trying to
471
00:32:32.079 --> 00:32:36.559
see into the hideout to get visual confirmation before authorizing
472
00:32:36.559 --> 00:32:40.519
the use of lethal force. As he reached forward to
473
00:32:40.519 --> 00:32:45.200
lift part of the covering, a gunshot rang out. Clarkson
474
00:32:45.200 --> 00:32:49.759
fell backwards, believing he had been fired at. Once again,
475
00:32:49.960 --> 00:32:53.319
he warned Prudent to surrender, but neither his words nor
476
00:32:53.359 --> 00:32:58.960
a stun grenade had any effect. Clarkson gave the order
477
00:32:59.319 --> 00:33:04.359
and had Deafinitly, hail of gunfire ensued. When it ended,
478
00:33:04.839 --> 00:33:07.519
an officer used a five foot pole to reach into
479
00:33:07.519 --> 00:33:11.519
the hiding place and check the body. Once he was
480
00:33:11.519 --> 00:33:14.680
convinced there was no movement, the roof was pulled back
481
00:33:14.960 --> 00:33:19.119
to real Barry Pruden's lifeless form, a machette strapped to
482
00:33:19.160 --> 00:33:22.880
his chest, a gun in his hand, of fifty rounds
483
00:33:22.880 --> 00:33:28.000
of ammunition in his pocket. The eighteen day man hunt
484
00:33:28.119 --> 00:33:31.920
was over. Among the police. There was a sense of
485
00:33:31.960 --> 00:33:37.839
relief and celebration. One witness said the coppers were laughing,
486
00:33:38.039 --> 00:33:41.319
shouting and slapping each other on the back, making the
487
00:33:41.359 --> 00:33:46.160
thumbs up signs and saying they'd got him. Their reaction
488
00:33:46.359 --> 00:33:50.319
was later called into question when the post mortem concluded
489
00:33:50.599 --> 00:33:55.880
that Prudham had not fired at Chief Inspector Clarkson. Instead,
490
00:33:56.519 --> 00:34:01.200
he had shot himself in the head. Sharpshooters had put
491
00:34:01.240 --> 00:34:05.039
twenty one bullets into a man who was already dead.
492
00:34:07.279 --> 00:34:10.639
Brian Johnson admitted to feeling sadness when he heard the news,
493
00:34:11.280 --> 00:34:14.239
describing Prudham as a lost young man.
494
00:34:15.360 --> 00:34:19.079
He said, yeah, as soon as the shots went off,
495
00:34:19.320 --> 00:34:24.360
I knew, you know, I knew that that got him. No,
496
00:34:24.559 --> 00:34:34.360
that was it the end. Yeah, I felt sorry because
497
00:34:34.360 --> 00:34:39.280
I'd known him. Therefore revenge filled him full of lead.
498
00:34:39.360 --> 00:34:44.679
I think that was what happened. They shouldn't have done that,
499
00:34:44.880 --> 00:34:50.599
shouldn't for revenge.
500
00:34:50.639 --> 00:34:53.000
His mother Bestie added, he.
501
00:34:53.199 --> 00:34:56.960
Wasn't a bit like the picture. He was very kind actually.
502
00:34:59.079 --> 00:35:01.960
Brian later can affirmed that he had kept his promise
503
00:35:02.000 --> 00:35:05.960
to Prudom and has worn the American Paratrooper ring ever since.
504
00:35:07.880 --> 00:35:13.199
Others who knew Prudam also spoke of him warmly. Carol's mother,
505
00:35:13.519 --> 00:35:16.199
Enid Francis told The Daily Mirror.
506
00:35:17.199 --> 00:35:20.360
My daughter loved him when he loved her. They had
507
00:35:20.400 --> 00:35:22.599
hoped to marry and it would have been with my blessing.
508
00:35:23.320 --> 00:35:27.840
He was such a gentleman. Whatever Barry did, and God knows,
509
00:35:27.840 --> 00:35:30.719
he did some terrible things in those desperate hours and days,
510
00:35:31.119 --> 00:35:34.320
being hunted like a wild animal. He didn't deserve to
511
00:35:34.360 --> 00:35:37.719
be shot down like a stray dog. All the stories
512
00:35:37.760 --> 00:35:40.599
about him are not consistent with the mild mannered man
513
00:35:40.760 --> 00:35:43.719
I have entertained in my living room. I felt only
514
00:35:43.760 --> 00:35:47.559
sadness when he died, and Carol was beside herself with grief.
515
00:35:50.199 --> 00:35:53.800
Why did a man describe a sensitive, kind and unassuming
516
00:35:54.159 --> 00:35:59.880
turn to violence. Criminal psychiatrist doctor Stephen Shaw suggested that
517
00:36:00.159 --> 00:36:03.920
Prudham's fascination with the military and his disappointment at being
518
00:36:03.960 --> 00:36:07.960
rejected for the Essays may have played a role, prompting
519
00:36:08.000 --> 00:36:10.360
him to play an extended cat and mouse game with
520
00:36:10.400 --> 00:36:14.559
the police in an attempt to prove himself. But his
521
00:36:14.719 --> 00:36:18.920
curtailed Essays training had taken place thirteen years before his
522
00:36:19.079 --> 00:36:25.719
Moorland rampage, so was that really the trigger. Another interpretation
523
00:36:26.039 --> 00:36:29.880
points to a combination of factors, including a growing resentment
524
00:36:30.159 --> 00:36:33.159
towards the police linked to their failure to catch the
525
00:36:33.239 --> 00:36:36.519
man who had mugged his mother, an event which may
526
00:36:36.559 --> 00:36:42.000
have contributed to her suicide. Prudham was buried in an
527
00:36:42.079 --> 00:36:47.559
unmarked grave attended by eight family members, but the speculation
528
00:36:47.800 --> 00:36:52.119
surrounding the case did not end there, twuring fifty miles
529
00:36:52.159 --> 00:36:56.639
away in Ordershot Hampshire. Detectives wondered if Prudham had been
530
00:36:56.679 --> 00:37:00.800
responsible for two other murders, those of sixty six year
531
00:37:00.840 --> 00:37:04.480
old Margaret Johnson and forty four year old Anne Lee,
532
00:37:04.960 --> 00:37:08.000
both stabbed while walking their dogs. A few weeks prior
533
00:37:08.159 --> 00:37:12.400
to the shooting of PC David Hay, a scruffy man
534
00:37:12.440 --> 00:37:15.800
in an army style jacket had been seen nearby and
535
00:37:15.920 --> 00:37:18.079
was known to have traveled to the area in an
536
00:37:18.119 --> 00:37:22.760
orange and white van. A man named Peter Fell spent
537
00:37:22.880 --> 00:37:26.760
sixteen years in prison after falsely confessing to the double murder,
538
00:37:27.119 --> 00:37:31.400
before being cleared in two thousand and The case remains
539
00:37:31.400 --> 00:37:37.519
officially unsolved. Questions were raised about the true nature of
540
00:37:37.559 --> 00:37:39.719
Barry Pruden's military connections.
541
00:37:40.840 --> 00:37:41.119
P C.
542
00:37:41.360 --> 00:37:44.280
David Hay was killed just two hundred yards from the
543
00:37:44.320 --> 00:37:49.480
American communications base, which Prudham had helped to build, the
544
00:37:49.480 --> 00:37:52.320
home of George and Sylvia Luckett, was near a sensitive
545
00:37:52.480 --> 00:37:56.679
ref installation, and p C. Kent Oliver was wounded close
546
00:37:56.719 --> 00:38:00.440
to the fining Dell's early warning radar system was linked
547
00:38:00.440 --> 00:38:04.360
to a North American Air defense center in Colorado Springs,
548
00:38:05.320 --> 00:38:10.199
not far from where Prudham had once camped. Margaret Johnson
549
00:38:10.440 --> 00:38:13.519
stabbed in Order Shot was a wife of Major Johnson,
550
00:38:13.920 --> 00:38:18.400
a former commander at the Junior Parachute Company at Browning Barracks,
551
00:38:18.599 --> 00:38:21.199
Order Shot, and the crime scene was close to the
552
00:38:21.199 --> 00:38:26.159
town's military base. There were also reports that officers from
553
00:38:26.199 --> 00:38:29.760
the Royal Ulster Constabulary had been present during the siege
554
00:38:29.800 --> 00:38:33.239
at Old Morton, along with two unidentified men in a
555
00:38:33.280 --> 00:38:38.960
camouflage Army helicopter. This field speculation that pruden was, for
556
00:38:39.000 --> 00:38:44.639
some reason considered a greater threat to national security, or
557
00:38:44.719 --> 00:38:48.039
was he simply a man obsessed with survivalism who made
558
00:38:48.079 --> 00:38:53.840
bad choices after the pressure of personal tragedies. As BBC
559
00:38:54.039 --> 00:38:58.199
journalist Robert Hall put it, there's a feeling of sadness
560
00:38:58.199 --> 00:39:01.760
for his victims, but there's all regret that you never
561
00:39:01.840 --> 00:39:05.599
heard his story. What had happened in this man's life
562
00:39:05.679 --> 00:39:10.639
to make him do these dreadful things? We felt cheated.
563
00:39:11.559 --> 00:39:14.599
As the courage of the case focused on the unprecedented
564
00:39:14.639 --> 00:39:18.320
scale of the police operation and the sensational involvement of
565
00:39:18.400 --> 00:39:23.400
tracker Eddie McGee, Prudham's life and his possible motivations have
566
00:39:23.599 --> 00:39:29.880
largely been overlooked. Whatever the explanation it ended. On fourth
567
00:39:29.880 --> 00:39:38.519
of July nineteen eighty two, and the answers died with him.
568
00:39:39.239 --> 00:39:42.599
You've been listening to Prasha's murder Map. If you enjoyed
569
00:39:42.599 --> 00:39:45.360
this case, please leave me a thumbs up, rating or comment.
570
00:39:46.480 --> 00:39:49.639
A big thank you to my recent Patreon subscribers who
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enjoy ad free audio only episodes, and Richard and Raymond
572
00:39:53.840 --> 00:39:56.719
who both kindly left a review on Amazon for our book,
573
00:39:57.000 --> 00:40:00.559
Wartime London's Bonnie and Clyde. I really we appreciate the
574
00:40:00.599 --> 00:40:03.719
support of all my podcast listeners and YouTube viewers, and
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I'll be back soon with another true crime episode.