From robberies to roast chicken deliveries: fugitive Dominique Delattre arrested after 26 years

Arrested in slippers and swimsuit, while heading towards the municipal swimming pool. Thus ended his inaction Dominique Delattreone of Europol’s most wanted criminals.

The man, as reported by the Spanish newspaper El Pais, had escaped from Nîmes prison in 2000 and had immediately disappeared, settling in Spain in Arahal, a Sevillian municipality of 19,546 inhabitants.

Life as a delivery boy

​Here Delattre, known to all as Eric, had rebuilt his life from scratchbecoming in all respects an active member of the small Andalusian community. Known and appreciated by much of the country, in the autumn he was part of the teams participating in the olive harvest, while during the rest of the year he worked as a delivery boy for a roast chicken shop.

​The assault and escape from prison

It is difficult to suspect that behind that very ordinary existence there was actually something hidden I saw her (“the old woman”), nickname by which Delattre was known within criminal circles. The French citizen had been fleeing from the police for 26 years. Already considered the perpetrator of 50 bank robberies, on 3 October 1997, at the age of 35, he had armed an armed attack on an armored van in the town of Baillargues, near Montpellier, seriously injuring a policeman.

​Arrested, tried and sentenced to 20 years in prison, three years later, on 25 August 2000, the man climbed over a fence together with another prisoner, descending from the other side of the wall thanks to rope ladders installed by some accomplices outside. An operation carried out with what French newspapers had defined at the time as “disconcerting ease”. The escape had profoundly shocked public opinion, leading French society to reflect on prison safety.

​The end of the race

​Delattre had never severed contact with friends and relatives. Despite avoiding direct meetings, in fact, the fugitive had managed to maintain relationships with his eight brothers, using intermediaries to communicate with them. Despite the great security measures, however, the Spanish National Police managed to intercept him, just when his crimes were about to expire.

​And yet, the man seems to have welcomed the arrest: “Finally. Now I can rest in peace – he declared to the agents – Living like a fugitive is not life”.