Northampton sex attacker caught after six years on the run in Spain

Azhar Younas spent six years sunning himself in Barcelona on the run after failing to turn up for a Northampton Crown Court hearing in 2013.

He had sexually assaulted on a 21-year-old woman in Northampton town centre in 2012 but failed to turn up to his sentencing hearing in 2013.

A judge sentenced him to four years in jail in his absence.

Brazen Younas - who previously lived in Earl Street, Northampton - had fled to Barcelona, where he has been working in a supermarket while posting pictures seaside selfies on Facebook during the past few years.

But officers caught up with him on July 9 in Spain after he went to apply to leave to remain and they discovered he was the subject of a European arrest warrant. He was deported and appeared at Northampton Crown Court today (Friday, August 2) where he was formally sentenced to four years in jail for the original offence. His Honour Judge Mayo also sentenced him to an extra four weeks for his ‘deliberate attempt to evade justice’.

Mitigating for Younas, Ian Vesey, said: “This was a simple case of a gentleman who panicked.

“Once located, he co-operated.”

Mr Vesey said it had been Younas himeslf who told the authorities in Spain that he believed he was wanted.

Younas was placed on the sex offenders’ register indefinitely and was banned from working with children for life.