Marco Muller: ex-footballer turned bank robber dies after over three decades of being on the run from police

Former footballer turned criminal Marco Muller has been found dead at the age of 71 after being on the run from police for over three decades.

Muller played for 16-time Swiss champions BSC Young Boys during the 1970s and was viewed as a promising young footballer as he represented Switzerland at youth team level. He also spent some of his playing-career at Delsberg, who currently compete in the third-tier.

However, at just 20-years of age he turned his back on professional football and went down a path of crime which saw him take part in a series of bank robberies and cash-in transit vans - netting a haul of around £2.6m at the time, according to The Swiss Times.

Muller was sent to prison in the 1980s, but remarkably escaped from Jura prison while serving time for a string of armed heists.

The former footballer was later re-arrested, but again went on the run while on remand in Berne jail in 1988 and was never recaptured.

He had been due to answer charges of holding up cash vans in Geneva and Delemont.

The 71-year-old’s story ended tragically when his body was found by a railway line near his home town Bassecourt last month. His identity was confirmed through DNA tests last week.

Muller, who has been dubbed the ‘Swiss Robin Hood’ has been on the run from police for around 36 years, and it is claimed that he had been hiding out in France.