24 Hours in Police Custody is one of Channel 4’s most popular true crime docuseries. Since 2014, cameras have followed Bedfordshire Police as they investigate some of the most shocking and intense criminal cases, from tragic murders to the armed siege of a tower block.
Tonight, Channel 4 is set to re-show an episode from earlier this year: Breakout, which zooms in on the 2023 prison escape in Yarl’s Wood, near Bedford. The official synopsis reads: “As dozens of detainees escape from Yarl’s Wood immigration removal centre, cameras go deep inside a high-octane police manhunt. But was the breakout random or engineered by outsiders?”
Ahead of the catch-up, which is airing at 9pm this evening, let’s unpack the story, from what actually happened, to how it happened.
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What happened at Yarl’s Wood?
In April 2023, inmates at Yarl’s Wood Detention Centre staged a mass breakout. After a protest in the facility’s gym began to spiral, detainees managed to force staff out of the room, obscure the security cameras, and use the gym equipment to launch their escape. Many inmates then scaled the fence of the centre before splitting up into smaller groups to decrease their chances of recapture. While the majority of escapees were apprehended the same night, eight were able to get away.
As per the BBC, Detective Chief Superintendent Will Hodgkinson, who co-ordinated Bedfordshire Police’s nationwide manhunt, said: “I’ve never known [a search] on this scale against eight individuals. Of all the individuals involved, I don’t think anyone has encountered a challenge quite as large as this.”
Hodgkinson added that while the police deal with issues like this on a “daily basis,” they’d never seen it “on this scale” or to this “intensity.”
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Were the escapees ever caught?
After a seven-week manhunt that spread across the whole country, the eight escapees were eventually caught and detained. Mariglen Coha was one of the first men police found. He was discovered at a Huddersfield address where he had previously been arrested. Hodgkinson said that Coha’s capture was “relatively simple,” because the West Yorkshire location was “what he knew.”
Next, Rizah Koka and Mexhit Palushi were found at a coffee shop in Bedfordshire. The pair were caught in possession of keys to a property that contained £50,000 worth of cocaine and £63,000 worth of cannabis. During a search of the property, another inmate, called Samuel Boka, returned to the address and was subsequently arrested.
A fourth man named Enea Shima was located in London, while Thanas Bizhoti, Luftim Hallaci and Arnold Lleshaj eventually turned themselves in at police stations across the UK.
In February 2024, a news article published on the Bedfordshire Police website revealed that the last of the 13 men convicted as a result of the investigation had been jailed. The police stated that the total sentences given (for both the escape, plus drug and fraud offences) added up to more than 21 years.
Detective Chief Inspector Matt Inwood from the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Major Crime Unit, who led the investigation, said: “This was a dangerous and brazen escape attempt by men who were awaiting deportation.
“Thousands of hours have been spent by our Bedfordshire officers and staff, as well as law enforcement colleagues across the country in order to apprehend those who escaped. This behaviour was completely unacceptable and a flagrant breach of the law.”
24 Hours in Police Custody: Manhunt is available to watch on Channel 4 at 9pm tonight. The episode can also be streamed on Channel 4 On Demand.
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Sophie Williams is a Freelance Journalist and Copywriter, covering everything from Fashion to Entertainment to music, Lifestyle and Features. She has interviewed a range of musical artists and authors including Alyssa Edwards, Courtney Barnett, Confidence Man, The Vaccines, Loyle Carner, Gabrielle, and John Niven, and has written for publications like Metro, Reader’s Digest, ITV’s Woo! and Vice’s NBGA. She is also working on a book for HarperCollins about Taylor Swift, due to be published in 2024.
