POLICE are no longer looking for a notorious criminal dubbed “the Skull Cracker” after Kent police arrested two men in East London this afternoon.
Kent Police said they arrested two men, , aged 55 and 53, in the Tower Hamlets area, on suspicion of conspiracy to commit armed robbery. The 55 year-old man is believed to be Michael Wheatley, known as 'the Skull Cracker', who was also arrested on suspicion of being unlawfully at large.
Earlier police had been working under the suspicion that Wheatley had fledto Ireland after he escaped from a British prison.
Wheatley had been given13 life sentences at the Old Bailey in 2002 for a string of brutal raids on banks and building societies.
He earned his nickname after pistol-whipping victims, including a 73-year-old woman, during the raids.
Detectives had been working with the Garda Síochána to track down the violent armed robber amid a series of reported sightings in London on Monday. They had also probed his past associations in Ireland.
News of Whatley's arrest came as police in Surrey launched an investigation into whether Wheatley had struck again.
A branch of the Chelsea Building Society in Sunbury-on-Thames was targeted at around 10:20 this morning, Surrey Police said.
Michael Wheatley"We are carrying out numerous inquiries to identify the offender and have linked in with Kent Police as part of these inquiries," a spokesman for the force said.
Members of the public have been urged not to approach Wheatley, who raided 13 building societies and banks over 10 months in 2001 and 2002 while on parole from a 27-year sentence for other robberies.
Kent Police launched its investigation on Saturday after Wheatley failed to return to the open prison on the Isle of Sheppey where he was being kept. He had been released on temporary license.
London’s Metropolitan Police said they were called to an address in Twickenham on Monday night following a reported sighting of the thug.
"Police were called to an address in Twickenham at 19.55hrs on Monday 5 May following a sighting of Michael Wheatley – a prisoner who has failed to return to a prison in Kent,” said a Scotland Yard spokesperson.
"Upon arrival, officers searched the area. Wheatley was not found. Inquiries are continuing. The Met continues to work closely with Kent police to trace Wheatley, who is being sought for arrest by police.”
Wheatley is originally from Limehouse in east London and has links across south-east England.
News of his escape has prompted concerns about why he was allowed put of jail.
Prisons minister Jeremy Wright said there would be a full review of the case, including an assessment of the release on temporary licence (ROTL) process.
The Conservative MP for Kenilworth and Southam said that while temporary licences can help to reintegrate offenders into communities, it “should not be an automatic right”.
Referring to upcoming reforms to introduce stricter conditions for the license scheme, he added: "We are not prepared to see public safety compromised. The system has been too lax up to now and we are changing that.
"In future, when prisoners are let out on temporary licence, they will be tagged, more strictly risk-assessed and tested in the community under strict conditions before being released.”
Meanwhile, Conservative backbencher Philip Davies questioned why Wheatley was in an open prison in the first place.
"It is completely ludicrous that a serving life sentence prisoner is even in an open prison, where they can simply walk out,” said the MP for Shipley in West Yorkshire.
“As far as I am concerned, whoever allowed him to be in an open prison should be sacked. It is a complete disgrace.”
See More: Ireland, Michael Wheatley, Skull Cracker
