£5k fugitive gives himself up to Chris
BOUNTY hunter Chris Mayhead of Carbrain is £5,000 richer after successfully tracking down a notorious fugitive.
Chris, 39, who works in TV and film as a driver and bodyguard, spent two weeks on the trail of the Real Radio Renegade before finally catching him outside Charing Cross Station in Glasgow last Friday.
The Real Radio Renegade (formerly known as the Fugitive, but his name was changed to catch listeners out) features regularly on the Lanarkshire radio station, baiting listeners with clues to his whereabouts. The first lucky sleuth who catches up with him and asks "Are you the Real Radio Renegade?" receives a cash prize of thousands.
Chris said: "My job means I have a lot of free time, and I ended up getting obsessed with finding the Renegade after a friend of mine caught him. I'd been chasing him for two weeks and found three calling cards so I knew I had a chance of catching him with a combination of amateur detection and some luck. The third time I nearly caught him but got distracted and ended up missing out on 8,000."
Chris, who has worked with such celebrities as Michelle Collins, Bill Paterson, Bill Nighy and Miranda Richardson, and Eagle Joe Walsh, was tipped off by last Friday's clue: "I'm having a groundhog day, it's five-grand Friday again."
Chris instantly thought of the Bill Murray movie, in which the time 9.31am is significant, so he knew when the Renegade would be in the location he had chosen. But guessing where that was proved more difficult, with Chris fluctuating between Buchanan Street Bus Station, Charing Cross and even Airdrie before finally settling on the courtyard area just outside Charing Cross Station.
"I got there with at most ten minutes to go," he said. "A tall guy dressed in black with a white-fronted baseball cap came up so I asked him if he was the Real Radio Renegade. He told me to wait a moment then came back with a phone, which he handed to me. Next thing I was on air in the breakfast programme!"
Chris intends to put his winnings towards a motorbike. He's certainly been running up the mileage in his hunt for the Renegade, covering more than 700 miles in his car. "This addiction has been a lot of fun," he said. "I've made a few friends among fellow Renegade hunters and we've been swapping tips and things."
And we asked Chris if he had any advice for our readers. "Start from a central location," he said. "I like Gartcosh because it has easy access to the M73, M74 and M8."
By NEIL McGRORY
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Cumbernauld
Wednesday 19 June 2013
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 9 C to 17 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
Wind direction: West
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 12 C to 19 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: South
