A dangerous fugitive was caught in Dublin earlier today after being on the run for 48 hours.
26-year-old Edward Best was finally snared when Gardai refused him entry to Ireland. Manchester Evening News reports that the IT worker had been in a three-year online relationship with a woman. The Greater Manchester Police said that the lady blocked him due to his aggressive manner and strange demands.
A video seen by Dublin Live shows Best being handcuffed after being escorted back to the UK. He remains calm as he is put into a police car to be taken back to Manchester. The stalker was caught just in time as he had a ticket for a flight from Dublin to New York in his passport.
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Police said that he had once asked his former partner to leave her phone on so he could listen to her breathing as she slept. Best spent 12 days in Manchester after getting a flight from the US. He had been spying on her home in Hyde and eventually broke in. The woman's cousin was inside visiting to feed her cat.
He kept the woman imprisoned for three hours, armed with a hammer. The GMP said the criminal barricaded the front door with furniture and locking the back door.
Thankfully, the woman managed to get help triggering a manhunt that led to Dublin. Best travelled by train to Birmingham and booked a flight to New York, a flight he missed by 40 minutes.
With the police's Critical Wanted Unit on his tail, he hopped on a ferry from Holyhead. GMP had issued an alert to all forces meaning that gardai were waiting for to escort him back to Holyhead.
He admitted making online threats to his former girlfriend but said he didn't have any intent to do anything about it. He told detectives that he did not make the woman aware that he was coming to the UK and acknowledged he had repeatedly harassed and stalked her online.
Best was charged with false imprisonment, aggravated burglary, possession of an offensive weapon and stalking.
He admitted stalking his ex-partner between January and April, false imprisonment, attempted false imprisonment, and possession of an offensive weapon before today being sentenced to seven years for those offences. He will serve two-thirds of his seven year sentence in jail, before the Parole Board decide whether it is safe to release him. The judge said Best's actions 'impacted on every aspect of her (his ex's) personal existence'.
"You destroyed her online life," she told Best. "You destroyed something she took pleasure in, communicating with friends online. She will never recover from your actions over those two years."
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Speaking of her cousin who Best held hostage, the judge added: "She had absolutely no idea what you were capable of. This must have been absolutely terrifying."
She told Best: "I consider you to be a danger to the public, in my view your deportation would be conducive to the public good." Best was also ordered to serve an extra three years on licence for public protection after being classed as a 'dangerous' offender.
After the hearing, Detective Constable Emily Blair, of Ashton CID, said: "The perverse actions of Edward Best were extremely sinister and frightening for both young women, and while this may be an unusual case it demonstrates our ongoing commitment to tackling violence against women and girls in all its forms. It was clear from Best’s online conversations with his former partner that he was obsessive and aggressive, meaning that when he went to her home address armed with a hammer it was clear that his intentions were malicious with the aim of inflicting physical as well as emotional harm.
“Fortunately for his ex-partner, she was not in that weekend; however, this by no means diminishes how much she has been affected by what could’ve happened, and how horrifying the ordeal was that her cousin was subjected to. Once Best was found by his victim’s friends, his intent was to run away from his crimes and go back to America to avoid the consequences, but our swift response from our specialist team of officers meant we were able to hunt him down and bring him back to Greater Manchester so he can now rightly face justice."
Dublin Live has contacted An Garda Siochana for comment.
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