Crimestoppers launches campaign to find Greater Manchester’s most wanted criminals

Crimestoppers

The faces of 40 people sought by GMP for serious crimes are set to be broadcast across Greater Manchester this week as the charity Crimestoppers marks 10 years of its Most Wanted online gallery.

Over 100,000 people have contacted the charity in Greater Manchester over the last 25 years.

From today (17 November), a van fitted with large screens will tour around Greater Manchester and will be visiting the city centre and 10 other busy locations.

The van will broadcast the faces of individuals wanted by GMP in connection with a variety of offences – including murder, sexual offences, burglary, robbery, and assault.

The tour comes exactly 10 years after Crimestoppers’ Most Wanted online gallery was launched in the UK.

Superintendent Craig Thompson from GMP, said: “This week the faces of Greater Manchester’s most wanted criminals will be beamed across the area as part of the Crimestoppers Week of Action.

“Officers will be making it a top priority to search for and arrest those most wanted. We will be relying on help and information from the public via Crimestoppers to help us find those who have, up to now, avoided facing up to their crimes.

“There will be significant activity in each division across Greater Manchester and we will be utilising a number of resources to make the week a success.

“Nothing is more important to us than the safety of our communities and I want to assure everybody that during the week of action there will be nowhere to hide for the individuals that we are seeking.”

The launch in Manchester coincides with similar launches in London and Glasgow with Advans visiting other major cities.

To date, the Crimestoppers website has listed a total of 12,524 appeals – 3,589 of which have been arrested.

Crimestoppers’ Most Wanted was launched on November 17 2005 and was, at the time, the first national online source of wanted individuals in the UK.

The site initially provided photographs and descriptions of known suspects before expanding to include an ‘unknowns’ section of CCTV images.

The aim was, and still is today, to give members of the public the opportunity to give information about any of the suspects to Crimestoppers anonymously.

Today the Crimestoppers Most Wanted site is proving to be as popular as ever – receiving around 30,000 views every month from the public.

Gary Murray, North West Regional Manager of Crimestoppers, said: “Most Wanted appeals to the nation’s ‘arm chair’ detectives – those who want to help fight crime from the safety of their own home and, above all else, anonymously.

“It was quite ground-breaking when it first launched as the first national online source of wanted individuals and it continues to be an important tool for UK law enforcement today.”