Gangster fugitive’s diamond mine tour CROOK SKIPPED COURT FOR ‘AID TRIP
A FUGITIVE gangster has sent pals snaps of diamonds worth tens of thousands of pounds following a “charity mission” to Sierra Leone.
Sam Walker, 34, is wanted after failing to attend court for driving while disqualified.
The self-styled hardman, who claims to have more than 100 convictions, insists he skipped bail as it clashed with his aid trip.
But Walker has been sending mates videos of personal tours of diamond mines in the country. He has also circulated pictures of gems being weighed and in a handkerchief.
The footage emerged days after he taunted cops outside their HQ after apparently sneaking back into the UK on a helicopter.
Walker, who had been due in court in April, had tweeted: “I went to Sierra Leone to fulfil my promise to give them a container of food, clothes and toys and install fresh water in the slums.
“People in slums are more important than a court date.”
He claimed his five-day escape involved a private jet and hitching a lift on a cargo ship.
More recent posts detail his return from West Africa. He claims he landed at an airfield in the North then booked into a Hilton opposite Merseyside Police.
Walker, of Liverpool, filmed himself with a July 4 copy of the Daily Mirror. Mocking police, he said: “Catch me if you can.” He has made no reference to the gems online, but footage of him at the mine circulated among Liverpool’s underworld.
Walker told the Sunday People via Twitter: “I’m doing a documentary on all aspects of Sierra Leone. From the struggle the people in the slums endure to the corrupt governments, corrupt charities, victims of the civil war and how diamonds financed the civil war.
“So as part of my documentary I went to a rebel-held diamond mine.” He added: “Me and the police have a chequered history since I was seven. They’ve tried to frame me in the past though I was guilty of some offences.”
Cheshire Police said: “Enquiries have been ongoing into Sam Walker’s whereabouts since he failed to appear at Chester magistrates court on April 20 in relation a disqualified driving offence.”