"For years Hobbs has tried to run from us but today's outcome demonstrates that you can't run forever," Scotland Yard's Flying Squad head, Detective Superintendent Bob Cummings, said. He also thanked his Spanish counterparts. One of Britain's most wanted men, tracked down on Spain's "Costa del Crime" by police, was jailed on Friday for his part in a cash van robbery and armed escape from a prison van at the gates of a London court.
Clifford Hobbs, 47, had been on the run for almost five years after escaping from a Securicor prison van in June 2003 by armed men who had posed as postmen who ambushed it as it waited for the court gates to open.
He had been due to attend court after the theft of 1.5 million pounds from another Securicor van earlier that year.
Hobbs, described by news media as one of the country's "premier league" gangsters, had fled to Spain's Costa del Sol.
The area, along the country's southern coast, has long attracted Britons seeking sun and sand alongside British-style pubs and fish and chip shops -- including those fleeing justice.
Britain's Serious Organised Crime Agency and Spanish authorities have recently tried to crack down on British criminals living there, publishing details of the most wanted, including their prominent scars and tattoos.
Hobbs, described by London police headquarters as one of the country's most wanted, now faces up to 18 years in jail for possessing a firearm, his escape and conspiracy to steal.
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