Footage captures moment one of UK’s most notorious fugitives dubbed the ‘Running Man’ is caught after 13 years

This is the dramatic moment a notorious fugitive dubbed “Running Man” was finally caught after evading cops for 13 years.

Ambrose Nicholas O’Neill, 42, was given the nickname for his ability to stay one step ahead of police after going on the run in 2008 following a violent robbery.

A team of police officers and staff had picked up O’Neill’s case and made it their mission to catch him.

O’Neill’s luck finally ran out when he was arrested last January by award-winning TV cop PC James Gill who has appeared on Cops UK: Bodycam Squad.

Bodycam footage captured fugitive’s arrest

Bodycam footage of O’Neill’s arrest at his hideout in Lincolnshire has been released by Nottinghamshire Police after he was jailed for eight years earlier this year.

PC Gill and his colleague PC Andy Ryback had played an instrumental role in tracking down the wanted man.

PC Gill said: “The ‘Running Man’ had been laughing at cops and had been on the run for years and years.

“A piece of intel dropped late in 2020 and that was enough to fine tune an address for him.

“You’re only going to get one shot at it.

“We arrived at work at 2am in the morning and all sat around the briefing table.

“There were maps and detailed explanations of what was expected from each individual, because absolutely nobody wanted this to go wrong.

“We knew that he was in because of the vehicle, we knew that we were going to find him.

“It felt good to be calling out his name. We said to him, ‘the newspapers are calling you Running Man’.

“He looked at himself and said ‘I haven’t been doing any running for quite some time’.”

The team involved in O’Neill’s capture has been recognised with an award at Nottinghamshire Police’s annual Force Awards.

Breakthrough came after anonymous tip off

O’Neill was originally arrested for a violent robbery of a 67-year-old antiques dealer and his wife while posing as a pizza delivery man in 2007.

He knocked on the front door of the couple’s home in Seagrave, Leicestershire, and when the man answered, he punched him in the face.

He then forced his way inside the house and threatened to kill the man unless he opened the safe.

When the antique dealer’s wife tried to intervene, O’Neill brutally hurled her to the floor and kicked her in the face.

O’Neill fled empty-handed and was arrested weeks later and granted bail.

He attended the first day of his trial at Leicester Crown Court in July 2008 but failed to turn up for the rest of the case.

Despite being jailed in his absence for eight years, he dropped off the radar and left “no footprint whatsoever” or any details of his existence.

Chief Inspector Chris Pearson said: “He had effectively disappeared from all the places you would usually leave a trace of yourself.

“This naturally caused significant distress for the victims.”

A breakthrough came following an anonymous tip-off that Ambrose may be living with a woman in the Wyberton area, near Boston, Lincolnshire.

The information didn’t include an exact address so the officers kept watch on the area before identifying O’Neill’s home.

On 1 February, he was ordered to serve an extended sentence for the robbery and going on the run.

Sentencing him at Leicester Crown Court, Judge Timothy Spencer QC told him: “Your day of reckoning is here.

“You deliberately and cynically evaded justice.”

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