Kentish Express Ashford & District
Murderer evaded police for months before arrest
A convicted murderer on the run for three months is back behind bars after he was finally arrested in Chartham.
Joseph Bagley, 66, had evaded officers since May, when he disappeared while on a supervised life licence following his release from prison.
It has since emerged the parole board which put him back on the streets had been told he had a a history of absconding.
The pensioner - who served 31 years in jail - was let out in January this year, but had been ordered to regularly inform police of his whereabouts.
But the alarm was raised on Sunday, May 12 when he failed to return to where he was living in Maidstone.
Kent Police launched a desperate hunt for the killer, who was jailed for life in 1978 for the murder of taxi driver Timothy Hall in Maidenhead, Berkshire.
Fearing he would disguise himself, detectives released computer generated images of what Bagley would look like without his scraggly white hair and moustache,
A £3,000 reward was even offered by Crimestoppers to help track down the killer, who was finally arrested in the village, on the outskirts of Canterbury, on Wednesday, August 14.
No more details of where he was found or where he had been staying have been released, despite repeated requests to Surrey Police for information.
Bagley has since been returned to prison.
DS Laura Hendy, from Surrey Police, would only say: “We carried out numerous enquiries to find and arrest him, working alongside colleagues from other forces, and he is now back in custody.”
Bagley previously went on the run in 1994 after escaping during an escorted home visit to an elderly relative in Surrey, from Coldingley prison, Weybridge.
He was recaptured more than a month later in January 1995.
A week before his latest arrest, former Kent Police detective Nick Biddiss, who helped catch M25 killer Kenneth Noye, slammed the decision to release Bagley in the first place.
“It’s hard enough gathering evidence and catching these murderers; if they’re given a life sentence it should mean life,” he said.
“I don’t care about what human rights the murderer thinks they’re entitled to, if they’ve killed an innocent person they deserve the proper punishment.”
■ Should ‘life mean life’? Email kentishexpress@thekmgroup.co.uk
‘It’s hard enough gathering evidence and catching these murderers; if they’re given a life sentence it should mean life’