Watch murderer Thomas Dures get arrested after 18 months on the run
Police have released video footage of the moment a cold blooded killer came back to the UK and was arrested after going on the run for 18 months.
Today marks two years since 19-year-old Matthew Daulby was killed on a night-out in Ormskirk with his friends.
Thomas Dures, who went on the run for 18-months following the attack, has been sentenced to life in prison for his murder.
Following multiple appeals to locate him, he handed himself in at a police station in Greece in January this year.
A spokesperson for Lancashire Police said: “The Daulby family have had to wait patiently for the man responsible for delivering the fatal injury to answer for his crimes.
“The video shows the moment Thomas Dures landed back on English soil, to face trial.
“The Daulby’s have had to grieve all of this time, knowing the man responsible for taking their son’s life was actively evading justice, and celebrating his 21st birthday in the sun. Something Matthew will never be able to do.”
They added: “Thomas Dures came back to the UK with the intent of getting in the dock and telling a catalogue of lies.
“He pointed the finger of blame at everybody but himself and took no accountability for his actions.
“Thankfully the jury saw through his lies and ensured that Dures will be held accountable for his crimes.”
Following a three-week trial a jury took less than three hours to find Dures guilty of murdering Matthew Daulby and committing wounding with intent against a second man.
The court heard that officers attended Railway Road at 12.05am on 29th July 2023 to reports of an ongoing disturbance.
Matthew was found a short distance away with serious stab injuries. Despite the best efforts of the emergency services, Matthew sadly died later in hospital.
A Home Office postmortem examination established that the cause of Matthew’s death was a single stab wound to the chest.
Enquiries found that Matthew suffered the fatal wound, as well as other injuries, during an altercation involving a number of individuals shortly after midnight on 28th July 2023.
Prior to the altercation, CCTV footage played to the jury showed Dures and his associate Henry Houghton lurking in an alleyway.
Dures is then seen striding towards the group Matthew was with, brandishing a lock knife.
Dures opened up the blade as he charged towards Matthew’s group, closely followed by Houghton, who was swinging a makeshift weapon comprising of a tied-up sock containing a rock.
Houghton struck Matthew with the weapon, with such force that it caused damage to his brain and likely disorientated him. It was when he was in this confused state that Dures fatally stabbed Matthew to the chest.
Dures also stabbed another man during the altercation, before fleeing the scene when hearing the sirens of an approaching police car.
CCTV footage showed Dures then did a loop of Ormskirk town centre, during which time he discarded his jacket on a park bench in Triangle Park.
As he continued his route, Dures dumped the knife in a ginnel near Ormskirk Parish Church.
The jacket was later found by a dog walker and the knife was found by an estate agent. Both items were handed in to the police.
Dures, of no fixed address but formerly of Whalley Drive, Aughton, sent voice notes to his associates before leaving the area in a taxi.
He then went on the run for 18 months before handing himself in at a police station in Greece.
In a victim impact statement to the court, Matthew’s mum Angela called Dures actions “cowardly” and left her family in a position where they had no choice but to resort to doing things they would never have imagined having to do.