Convicted murderer Shaun Walmsley burst from captivity five years ago, sparking a hunt for the fugitive across the UK and abroad.
Walmsley, originally of Wallace Street, Walton, was serving a minimum 30-year sentence at HMP Liverpool at the time of his escape.
He was locked up for his part in the brutal killing of Anthony Duffy, who was "repeatedly and brutally stabbed" near train tracks known as the "loop line" in Aintree after rivals learned of his plan to steal £60,000 of their cannabis in May 2014.
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Faced with the prospect of being in jail until his late 50s, Walmsley complained of fake bowel problems and shed up to four stone in weight, fooling prison medics so he could be referred to specialists at Aintree University Teaching Hospital.
It is understood a security lapse at one of his first hospital appointments led to Walmsley learning the date of his follow-up visit allowing him to arrange an ambush.
On his next visit to Aintree Hospital, on February 21, 2017, two accomplices waited outside for 90 minutes before leaping into action as Walmsley got into a minicab transporting him and three prison guards.
The two masked men, armed with an Uzi submachine gun and a machete, jumped from a gold-coloured Volvo, threatening the guards who released Walmsley from his handcuffs.
Walmsley and the masked men fled in the Volvo, thought to have been parked in the Adlam Crescent area of Fazakerley before the dramatic escape.
Police believe Walmsley switched to a second vehicle, which was tracked to an address 35 miles away in Cheetham Hill, north Manchester, where it is believed he obtained new identity documents or a mobile phone.
Speaking at the time, Detective Superintendent Natalie Perischine said: "Shaun Walmsley is a convicted killer who was sentenced to life for murder with a tariff of 30 years, he is a cold-blooded murderer and a particularly dangerous individual and we are determined to find him and we will not stop there."
She also said he planned his escape using mobile phones smuggled into HMP Liverpool.
It is believed he was helped by fellow inmates at the category B prison, which had a "huge problem" with mobile phones, according to a 2016 independent monitoring board report.
The Hunt
Walmsley attempted to flee to Amsterdam after the murder of Anthony Duffy, and police thought he could be anywhere, from the Dutch capital, to Liverpool to Lanzarote, with sightings reported across the UK.
Merseyside Police even put up £20,000 as a reward for his capture, funding it with Walmsley's own money seized after his arrest and murder conviction.
At the time, Det Supt Perischine warned: "Anybody who is assisting him needs to think what they're doing, they need to reflect and think about the really horrendous crime that he was convicted of and search their conscience and come forward.
"Let us know. If you don't, we will catch you as well and you will go to prison.
"There are a huge number of officers within Merseyside and across the country who are all working together to resolve this, to find him and anybody that has assisted him in his escape.
"Come forward, let us know. Speak to us, give him up. Because if you don't, we will find you, we will bring you to justice and you will go to prison as well.
"No matter how long that takes, we will find him."
Police launched a series of coordinated searches from Fazakerley to HMP Liverpool, raiding 11 properties and nine prison cells they said were linked to Walmsley.
The operation hit individuals in his underworld network suspected of gun, drugs and other offences.
As part of the investigation, codenamed Operation Devon, detectives arrested thirty people, including a man from Liverpool who was on the run in Spain, and seized more than £165,000 in cash, large amounts of drugs and ammunition from 43 addresses in Merseyside, Bournemouth, Sussex and north Wales.
The Arrest
Armed police swooped and arrested Shaun Walmsley after 18 months on the run.
On the afternoon of Tuesday, August 21, 2018, armed officers stopped a car in the Harehills district of Leeds, tasering the fugitive when he resisted arrest.
Walmsley told police: "Good job boys."
Footage emerged that was believed to show the moment Shaun Walmsley was held by armed police behind a white car, boxed in by other vehicles.
The video shows plain-clothed officers, some with their faces covered, some in hi-vis jackets, as they detained what appears to be two people on the street.
An image appearing to show the murderer while he was being detained reveals a Walmsley barely recognisable compared to the clean-shaven, short-haired drug boss locked up for murder.
Shaun Walmsley had grown long hair and a beard during his time on the run.
After his arrest, Walmsley was charged with escape from lawful custody and appeared at Liverpool magistrates' court on August 22, 2018.
Speaking about the arrest, Det Supt Perischine told the ECHO: "It is quite clear Shaun Walmsley went to incredible lengths to evade capture.
"And no doubt did everything possible to try and avoid police but no matter what he did, no matter what he tried, we were never going to give up.
Walmsley finally appeared in Liverpool Crown Court on Tuesday, October 2, after saying he could not appear at an earlier hearing because of stress.
Judge Clement Goldstone QC said: "Throughout the period you were at large, the public had in their midst a thoroughly dangerous man which must have caused no end of anxiety lest anyone should encounter you and, despite your changed appearance, recognise you.
"It would be an insult to society and to the police who have recaptured you to order this sentence to run concurrently with your life sentence, however long the minimum term may be, and it would also send out entirely the wrong message to those who are serving long sentences and might wish to chance their luck by trying to escape."
Walmsley smirked when he was handed a consecutive eight-year prison sentence, after admitting escape from lawful custody.
His lawyer argued his two sentences should be concurrent, but the judge decided otherwise.
This means Walmsley's eight-year sentence begins when his original life sentence ends. He will serve at least four years of his second jail term.
Walmsley was elevated from a Category B to a Category A "high risk" prisoner, meaning "stringent" restrictions on him in jail.
As someone that poses a particular danger to the public or threat to national security, he will need to liaise with the police regarding any family visits.
If the parole board decides to release him back into the community on licence, he could be a free man in January 2051 - at the age of 62.
