What It's Like to Be On the Run from the Police

(Illustration: Jack Hamilton)

Disappearing isn't easy. Your ex probably still has you on Find My Friends; there's a high chance you've accidentally geo-tagged all your tweets; and there are digital traces of you everywhere, from bank statements and phone records through browser history and GPS. With access to your cyber-footprint, your movements could feasibly be tracked by the minute. And that's not to mention the estimated 4.9 million CCTV cameras in the UK – one for every 14 people.

However, despite all this, there are still people who manage to make themselves scarce, even while being hunted by the police.

There are 31 people on the National Crime Agency's most-wanted list, some of whom have been on the run for over a decade and have a £10,000 reward for information leading to their arrest. The Crimestoppers website lists 355 wanted individuals, but the exact number of people on the run from the police in the UK is unclear.

Who are these people who have dedicated their lives to running from the police? People who have made themselves so anonymous that even the people paid to find them can't.

Shaun was released on bail after being charged with assault last year, but when he failed to turn up to his court hearings he broke the conditions of his temporary release. Now, he'll be taken into a remand prison if he's caught.

"You know what? I'm so fucking bored," he says over the phone, adding that he hasn't been able to go on Facebook in almost two months. "You don't realise how much of your life is spent looking at shit on your phone until you have to throw it in a river."

After ditching his phone and his iPad, Shaun left his parents' house wearing his dad's clothes ("they'd have recognised me in a tracksuit") and never looked back. Living in an undisclosed location with a friend, he knows his days of relative freedom are numbered, but is terrified of going to prison. "I know I can't run forever," he says, "but I can't face going inside. Not now, after all this. I haven't spoken to my parents or anything. I've made it worse for myself."Unlike Shaun, 34-year-old Steve decided to take his loved ones along for the ride when he fled the police. He's currently serving a two-year sentence for fraud, but spent just as long on the outside trying to avoid it. Steve handed himself in after being given an ultimatum by his wife, who was tired of living like a fugitive.

"She said to me: 'Steve, I haven't done anything wrong. I can't live like this any longer,' and I knew it was either hand myself in and face up to it or lose her and the kids," he says over the phone from prison. "It wasn't fair for me to put them through all that shit, but you you're not really thinking straight when you know you're going to get banged up."

Josh, 45, was on the run for two years before he was eventually captured and sentenced to seven years in prison. Freed in 2012 after serving the full sentence, Josh says he had no idea that he was wanted in three countries when he decided to run. He explains that in most cases, like Shaun's, people on the run are waiting for their cases to be heard or for their co-accused to be charged. "In my case I didn't know how serious I was wanted," he says. "I had a fucking idiot lawyer who told me it wasn't that serious, when in reality it was very, very serious."

"If you'd known how serious it was would you still have run?" I ask.

"I would have run further," he replies. "I always had a false passport ready for an emergency. In my line of work it would be irresponsible not to. I got a phone call one night saying that they'd arrested someone who was on his way to meet me. I had warning, so I ran – they fucked up and they missed me. By the time they got to my house I was already gone."

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Josh, originally from the Midlands, made his way from his adopted home city of Madrid to Valencia, where he lived undercover. He did the most cliché thing someone on the run can do: he grew a beard. However, he also adopted the identity in his new passport and cut ties with everyone from his former life.

"The most important thing is to not have direct contact with family," he says. "They'll monitor them, knowing that sooner or later you'll get in touch. That's how they catch most people. You have to be disciplined."

Being disciplined for Josh meant never delving into a bank account, even when his cash was running low. When he left Madrid he took all the physical money he could, but "there's only so much you can carry".

Josh says that keeping your head above water is one of the hardest parts of being on the run: "It's expensive running all the time – people rip you off constantly. When you're paying for an apartment or buying a car in cash, it doesn't take a mind-reader to work out something's going on. People charge you through the nose for stuff in exchange for staying quiet.

"Eventually you need to replenish your funds. The loss of earnings hits you and that's when things get even more risky, as you have to contact people from your old life, or work with new people. Neither are ideal when you're trying to keep a low profile – frying pan or fire."

Josh was eventually caught when he tried to collect money he was owed. The debtor panicked and called the police, and when Josh left his apartment the next morning to get breakfast there were eight armed officers waiting for him.

Now a free man, Josh's habits from his days on the run stay with him. Sitting in the passenger seat of his car, he drives me through busy London streets pointing out exactly where the CCTV cameras are; which traffic cameras aren't in use; which of the hundreds of vehicles passing by are undercover police cars. He points out a plain-clothed police officer in a rush-hour crowd at Oxford Circus.

It's like he's developed a sixth sense – adapting to his undercover environment after living the majority of his life on the wrong side of the law.

When I ask Josh what the hardest part about life on the run was, he says it was getting caught. "I'd do it all again," he says. "You never surrender; never, ever give up. You could be diagnosed with cancer and die within two months. I'd rather spend my time on the run than in jail."

All names changed.

@SophieBrownHP / jackhamiltonart