'Most wanted' fugitive starts jail sentence

Fugitive Noel Cunningham, 48, was the suspect in a failed 1m security van heist when he escaped in June 2003 after two armed men hijacked the prison van taking him to court.

Jailing him yesterday, Judge Charles Byers told Woolwich Crown Court in London that Cunningham was a dangerous man whose crimes shocked society.

Cunningham became one of the UK's most wanted men when he was smuggled out of the country to live under a string of assumed identities in Holland until he was arrested last September.

Cunningham and another man, Clifford Hobbs, were facing charges of conspiracy to rob over the failed security van raid, the court was told.

But in June 2003, two armed men – one dressed as a postman, the other wearing a balaclava –hijacked the prison van taking him to court in London in a "planned, well-thought out and well-executed joint enterprise".

Cunningham, formerly of Rotherhithe in south-east London, was found guilty last month of having a firearm with intent to escape, possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence and wounding with intent to resist lawful apprehension. He had previously pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to steal.