French armed robber to face court after seven years on the run

One of Europe's most wanted criminals is to face a retrial within a year after giving himself up following seven years in hiding.

Cash transporters have been the targets of many armed robberies in France Graham Richardson

David Gras, 48, surrendered to police in northern France on Thursday, prompting a jubilant tweet from the police force pointing out he was on Europol's most wanted list.

David Gras's Europol wanted notice

[ACTU] David Gras, l’un des criminels les plus recherchés d’Europe s’est livré à la justice à #Douai. Condamné à 25 ans de prison pour un braquage mortel commis en 2011, il faisait partie des fugitifs #MostWanted d’@Europol. pic.twitter.com/JtKoDdt5az

  Police nationale (@PoliceNationale) 2 août 2018

He is accused of taking part in a number of armed robberies on cash transport company warehouses.

In the best-known, an early-morning attack using explosives at Orly, near Paris, in September 2011, an employee of the Tremis company was killed, a passerby briefly taken hostage and the robbers fired on police as they made their getaway.

The supposed ringleader, Serge Véron, was later sentenced to 18 years in prison.

Gras was sentenced in his absence to 25 years in prison for various offences in a trial with 18 other defendants in July 2016.

But, since he was not "duly notified" because he was in hiding, the law requires that he be given a retrial now he has made himself known to the authorities.

He gave himself up because he "wishes to answer the accusations against him and enjoy a free and fair trial", his lawyer Jérôme Goudard told the AFP news agency.