Quick Facts
Biography
James Francis Hurley (born 1962) is an English convicted murderer and long-term fugitive from justice.
Hurley was driving the getaway car in an armed robbery in the town of Hemel Hempstead on 14 April 1988. During the robbery police constable Frank Mason of the Hertfordshire Police was shot and killed. He was convicted of murder in 1989, and sentenced to life imprisonment.
On 16 February 1994, whilst being transferred to Wandsworth Prison by bus, Hurley and another prisoner managed to escape. He fled the country, and managed to remain at liberty for 13 years. On 9 November 2007, Hurley was apprehended by police during a raid on a suspected drug dealer at an address in The Hague, Netherlands.
He was sentenced to 6 years imprisonment in the Netherlands and paroled after 4 years. In November 2011 officer from the tactical team of Hertfordshire Constabulary extradited Hurley from the Netherlands and returned him to a London prison to serve his sentence for the murder of PC Mason.
After being recaptured and imprisoned Hurley is now attempting to get his murder conviction overturned. On 30 July 2015 Hurley's appeal to have his conviction for the murder of PC Frank Mason quashed was heard at the Court of Appeal. A court date is yet to be set.