Liverpool Echo’s “Festive Fugitives Campaign” in which the paper aided the detection of Merseyside’s dozen most-wanted figures, has helped capture three of the featured suspects.
In collaboration with Crimestoppers, the Echo published pictures and biographies of the region’s 12 wanted individuals in the newspaper over the Christmas period.
The campaign, which was the brainchild of Echo crime reporter Ben Rossington, also involved sending out Bluetooth messages to mobile phones in busy areas of Liverpool about the wanted men.
The text messages, which included a picture of the fugitive and a cross-reference back to the article in the newspaper, recorded 200,000 pick-ups from passers-by.
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Ali Machray, Echo editor, said: “This is a great example of how a targeted multimedia campaign can grip the community and get instant results.
“We’ve been blown away by the feedback from the Merseyside public and we’re proud that, together, we’ve been able to bring some of the area’s most-wanted [people] to justice.”
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