Some 8,000 convicted criminals are currently evading prison, 90% of whom cannot be traced because they have fled abroad, justice ministry figures requested by the Gelderlander show.

Of the 7,853 wanted criminals, 606 have been sentenced for a serious crime. One of them, Sherwin Windster, who shot a man during a robbery in 2015, escaped from a long-term treatment clinic in Nijmegen last year and has not been seen since.

Most, however, ‘disappeared’ after being sentenced in their absence and not replying to the letter instructing them to report to prison. Suspects are not required by law to turn up in court.

The search for criminals who are evading prison has been intensified since 2017, police official Peter Homminga, who headed the Missing Convicted project in Rotterdam, told the Parool.

At that time some 11,000 convicted criminals were on the run without much action being taken, Homminga said. ‘In those days the Netherlands was seen as a place that people could walk around as they pleased, even with a conviction to their name,’ Homminga told the paper.

In 2021 the project led to the creation of a special team in charge of locating criminals which had apprehended and locked up at least 435 people by last October.

Homminga said the current number of 8,000 would not be brought down by much because 90% of them have fled abroad, often to countries without extradition treaties with the Netherlands.

‘That doesn’t mean we won’t catch them at some point. The files are reviewed regularly and sometimes we find that people have returned to the Netherlands,’ Homminga said.