Barry Prudom- "he has your book under his arm Eddie, we need YOU to help us find him."

 

Barry Brudom was born without a father figure and his mother tragically drowned whilst they were both on holiday. He was of average intelligence and went into business on his own as a greengrocer after marriage, this business was unsuccessful, however, so he moved to Saudi Arabia to make money in Petroleum.

 While he was away in Saudi Arabia his wife left him along with all their savings, so he travelled the world working on oil rigs. 

 In 1982 while back in England, he was arrested for an assault charge in Yorkshire, failing to go to court for this charge meant that an arrest warrant was issued. This made him generally unemployable to the firms around where he lived, He began to walk around with a Berreta stashed in his coat pocket which he did not have the license for.

 On the 17th Jue 1982 David Haigh an on-duty police officer pulled Barry over, he was looking for suspicious persons that may have been involved with a poaching charge.  Barry shot him in a panic and fled the scene. David failed to respond to hails from his colleagues and so a team were sent out to locate him. No one knew who had done it but the trail of the investigation led them to a green Citroen  which a witness placed at the scene of the crime. They later found the Citroen burned and abandoned at the side of a road.

 By the 20th June, Prudom who was now on the run broke into the home of a 75-year-old woman Freda Jackson, tied her up but let her live, she was told that "the bread-man would find her in the morning." Three days later he broke into another home and shot George Luckett and his wife, the wife survived her wounds but had brain damage her entire life and has no recollection of the event. Stealing their car he drove a few miles then switched license plates with another car, but the police had already been given a description of the Rover which was stolen. 

 The next day during a routine check a policeman signalled to Prudom to pull over, panicking again Prudom open fired at Officer Oliver, his police dog attacked Prudom. Officer Oliver and his dog both were hit, but not fatally. He smashed the police radio and set fire to the Rover. Officer Oliver regained consciouness and radioed in his location from his portable device. 

  A three day manhunt ensued, Police personel travelled through the forest on foot, Prudom was an expert at hiding. He owned the book "Real Techniques of Survival" by Eddie McGee. He was eventually spotted however, in the village Old Malton and open fired at a police officer David Winter fatally wounding him and some reporters who were stationed nearby. After being asked by law enforcement Eddie McGee agreed to join the hunt.

 Meanwhile Prudom had broken into another house of a Maurice and Bessie Johnston and their child Brian. All three became his hostages as he stayed in their home for eleven hours, even making himself dinner. He befriended the son so much he gave him his paratroopers ring, tied them up and snuck out of the house. 

 He learned of McGee's involvement and so laid a fake trail in the woods but this was obvious to McGee himself and he successfully tracked down Prudom who had barricaded himself in a shack.

 They surrounded him and told him to give himself up. When he didn't they threw stun grenades at him. A single shot rang out which told law enforcement that he may have shot himself. 

 Interestingly the coroner deemed it a suicide, despite the fact that the police had also shot at the body to ensure it wasn't a ruse, and any one of those bullets could have been the one that killed him. He was then buried in an unmarked grave.

 McGee later said that it was incredibly strange having someone use his own material against himself, but that he had been adamant that he would be caught.

 Officer Olivers and his dog where both given medals of bravery.