A gangster who taunted police with a series of ‘catch me if you can’ messages has been arrested in Liverpool.
Sam Walker – once dubbed ‘the Crucifier’ over his alleged treatment of rivals – was hunted by police after failing to attend a court hearing for allegedly breaching a driving ban.
The 35-year-old put a series of posts on social media of him travelling around the world by speedboat, helicopter and sportscars to avoid detection.
Fugitive Sam Walker left and then returned to the UK in secret before posing in front of Cheshire Police station, left and right, taunting officers at their failure to catch him
Walker returned to the UK via helicopter, pictured left and right, filming the landing in a field in north England
After he secretly returned to the UK, he even posted a video from the £250-a-night Hilton hotel room – overlooking the headquarters of Merseyside Police.
But his time on the run has now come to an end after he was picked up by officers this week.
A Merseyside police spokesman said today: ‘We have arrested a Liverpool man who was wanted on court warrant for failing to appear for a driving offence in Cheshire.
‘Samuel Thomas Walker, 35 years, of Beetham Plaza was wanted by Cheshire Police following an incident in Chester on 4 April 2018.
‘Matrix Disruption officers from Merseyside Police assisted colleagues at Cheshire Police in their efforts to locate Walker, and yesterday, he was arrested at around 11.20pm on Cronton Lane in Cronton.
‘He has been remanded in custody to appear at Chester Magistrates Court this morning.’
This map shows how Walker escaped the UK last month and the route he took to Sierra Leone
This map shows the route Walker took to return to the UK via what appears to have been a holiday in Dubai
Walker is no stranger to the high life, posting this picture outside Atlantis The Palm in Dubai in July 2017
Photos shared online showed him handling diamonds, apparently during his time in Africa
Walker last month used social media to chronicle his escape in a video entitled ‘How to get out of UK when your [sic] wanted by police’.
It showed the Liverpool career criminal using private jets and hitching a lift on a cargo ship for his 5,000-mile trip to Sierra Leone, where he claimed to be doing charity work.
However, photos he circulated online appeared to show him visiting diamond mines and handling precious stones.
Walker – who claims to have more than 100 convictions to his name – then upped the ante further by giving the authorities the slip for a second time, this time on his return to Britain.
After flying by helicopter into a field in Northern England before being driven away in a waiting car, he filmed himself in a car parked opposite Cheshire Police HQ in Winsford, laughing on camera: ‘Catch me if you can.’
But Walker has constantly taunted police on social media with grinning pictures posed up in Africa. This picture is from his ‘escape video’ posted on Instagram in late May
The convicted drug dealer has posted this picture of himself enjoying a night out on July 15 although it is not clear where it was taken
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