A woman who evaded capture for 30 years following a series of armed robberies has been sentenced to prison, after a global cold case operation by UK police. The Metropolitan Police confirmed on Tuesday that Linda Watson, 62, was arrested in Spain in 2023 and extradited to Britain. She was found guilty of three counts of armed robbery committed in 1993, including the theft of £250,000 from a security van in London.
The case was reopened in 2022 under a new initiative targeting fugitives from historic offences. Watson, who had assumed a false identity and lived in several countries, was tracked through international cooperation and DNA evidence. The judge imposed a 15-year sentence, noting the cold calculation of her crimes and the lengthy evasion of justice.
This conviction reinforces Scotland Yard's commitment to pursuing unresolved cases across jurisdictions, a strategy that has yielded a 40% increase in cold case clearances since 2020.
