Manhunt for wanted Stephen Burnell, as part of a wider investigation into ten known criminals thought to have fled to Costa Del Sol region of Spain

Paedophile on the run for abusing a nine-year-old girl could be hiding in a Spanish resort. Now investigators will be launching a manhunt for wanted Stephen Burnell, as part of a wider investigation into ten known criminals thought to have fled to Costa Del Sol region of Spain. Burnell, 55, went on the run in 2007 after sacking his defence team days before his trial was due to start. He was sentenced to six years imprisonment for carrying out a number of sickening sex crimes against the nine-year-old – including attempted rape, making pornographic images, and eight sex attacks – and put on the Sex Offenders’ Register for life in his absence.
Despite a nationwide search for Burnell, who once lived in the South Bank area of York as well as other parts of the city, he still has not been found. Under the banner of Operation Captura, investigators behind UK crime-fighting charity Crimestoppers, and the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), want the help of the public to trace fugitives thought to be on the run in Spanish resorts. Several waves of the appeal, first launched in October 2006, have led to the arrest of 23 out of 40 criminals arrested.

Burnell is described as being 5ft 9ins tall, of medium build, with blue eyes and has a ruddy complexion with cropped receding ginger hair with a full ginger beard and moustache.

He has a number of distinctive tattoos, including a black panther on his left arm; a skull with a dagger behind; and the words Do Or Die printed over the top of his right arm. He is described as having a nomadic lifestyle. Details of the ten men, which also include a suspected child rapist, Martin Smith from Tyneside, and suspected Manchester jewellery robber Benjamin Murphy, are posted by Crimestoppers on a “most wanted” website targeting the region.