A suspected paedophile who had been on the run for three years has been arrested in France after crashing his car. Stephen Carruthers, 43, from Bury, was wanted by Cumbria Police in connection with 18 offences of making indecent photographs of a child.
Carruthers had been living in France under a false name since failing to return to a police station after being bailed in March 2014. He was originally arrested at an address in Ambleside, where a computer containing 5,332 indecent images of children was seized.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) said Carruthers was captured after he was admitted to Cahors Hospital with minor injuries from a car crash on Saturday. While he was being kept in for observations, checks by French authorities revealed his real identity.
A European Arrest Warrant was executed at the hospital, and Carruthers appeared before the general prosecutor of the appeal court of Agen, where he was remanded in custody. Matt Burton, head of the NCA's International Crime Bureau, said his capture was due to 'a huge slice of luck'.
Carruthers was among 10 British fugitives named as the most wanted by the NCA as part of Operation Captura.
