[5] Described as an "avid outdoorsman and firearms enthusiast", Prudom's knowledge of military survival skills learned while training with the Special Air Service (SAS) helped him evade capture for eighteen days as he hid out in rural areas in the north of England.

[6][7] When eventually found, having been tracked by "Jungle" Eddie McGee, a former SAS instructor, he died by suicide by firing a single shot to his head.

[8][9] Barry Prudom was the illegitimate son of Kathleen Edwards, a Leeds dressmaker, and Peter Kurylo, a soldier serving with the British Army.

[4] In 1969 Prudom enlisted with Leeds-based B Squadron, 23 Special Air Service (V), part of the Army's part-time volunteer Territorial force.

[10] Prudom subsequently established himself as a grocer, and purchased a shop for his wife on Quarry Street, Leeds, but by 1977 he was working for the petroleum industry in Saudi Arabia to earn more money.

Prudom did not hold a licence to possess firearms, but carried a .22 LR calibre Beretta Model 71 "Jaguar" pistol, which he had purchased in the US and smuggled back into Britain.

[4][11] After commencing duty at 06:00 on 17 June 1982, PC David Haigh, aged 29, was attempting to serve a summons on a poacher in the Washburn Valley near Harrogate, North Yorkshire.

[4][8] When Haigh failed to respond to a radio call from his station at Harrogate, PC Mick Clipston was sent to check on his whereabouts, and discovered his patrol car at a picnic site at Norwood Edge near Beckwithshaw.

[7][8] Haigh's clipboard was found, on which he had written, "Clive Jones, born 18/10/44, Leeds NFA" followed by a vehicle registration number, KYF 326P.

[4] The registration number recorded by Haigh belonged to a metallic green Citroën, which police ascertained had been the subject of a cash sale to an unknown man at Kingsbury, London, in January 1982.

[4] After abandoning his car, Prudom had hitchhiked and walked to Torksey, Lincolnshire, where on 20 June he broke into a house and tied up the elderly occupant, 75-year-old Freda Jackson.

On 24 June Prudom was stopped during a routine check in the Bickley area of Dalby Forest, approximately eight miles from Scarborough, by police dog handler PC Ken Oliver.

[7] Prudom smashed the radio transceiver in Oliver's van and drove it a short distance into the forest before returning and setting fire to the Rover.

Another officer, PC Martin Hatton, cross-checked outstanding arrest warrants and made the connection between Haigh's written note and the birth date of the suspect, "Barry Edwards".

After several hours, the search moved suddenly back to Dalby Forest when police were informed that a camouflaged bivouac shelter had been uncovered in a Forestry Commission plantation.

Henshaw ordered "the largest arsenal of weapons ever issued to a British police force" and placed a cordon around Malton, sealing off the town.

[12] For several days Prudom hid in the countryside around Malton; on 3 July, he entered the home of pensioner Maurice Johnson in East Mount and took him, his wife Bessie and their son Brian as hostages.

Prudom gave Brian a gift of a United States Army paratrooper's ring, and then, believing the area was relatively safe, tied up the family and left the house at 03:15 on 4 July.

[9] A firearms squad from Greater Manchester Police, led by Chief Inspector David Clarkson, was called to the scene and Prudom was told to give himself up.

The post mortem was conducted by Siva Sivas, a lecturer in forensic pathology at Leeds University, who reported that there were a total of twenty-one penetrating shotgun wounds to Prudom's body which had "insufficient velocity to enter the body cavity", a .22 bullet fired into the right side of his head which was consistent with a self-inflicted wound, and a further shotgun pellet which had entered through his forehead.