THE man who held up a Royal Mail van driver at gunpoint and stole £25,000 has been captured in Spain after more than four years on the run.

Andrew Moran, 31, held up the van outside Colne Asda in May, 2005, along with Stephen Devalda, 29.

The pair went on the run, with Moran vaulting the dock in a Burnley courtroom as he went on trial.

Devalda was found by police in the Costa Del Sol and sentenced to 10 years in prison last year.

After a joint operation between the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), North West Regional Organised Crime Unit (TITAN) and Spanish National Police, Moran was arrested in a dramatic raid at a luxury villa in the Calpe area of Alicante in the Costa Blanca on Friday afternoon.

An elite team of armed officers swooped while he was relaxing by a swimming pool.

Two handguns, 60 rounds of ammunition and a machete were recovered.

Extradition proceedings are under way and Moran was due to appear at a court in Madrid today.

Moran, of Salford, was on the most-wanted list for Crimestoppers’ Operation Captura campaign, and his arrest means 50 fugitives have been caught since it was launched.

He was arrested after the robbery but, during his trial at Burnley Crown Court in February 2009, he assaulted four security guards and escaped from the dock.

He was subsequently convicted in his absence of conspiracy to commit armed robbery.

Matt Burton, SOCA’s head of investigations, said: “Moran thought he could evade capture by fleeing to Spain, frequently changing his appearance and using false identities.

“Like his partner in crime Devalda discovered, there is no hiding place.

“SOCA and its partners have the capability to pursue criminals relentlessly, track them down, and put them behind bars.”

Det Chief Insp Janet Hudson, from TITAN, said: “My officers have worked tirelessly alongside SOCA colleagues and the Spanish authorities to track down this dangerous man.

“Extradition proceedings are now under way. “It just goes to show that we will stop at nothing to capture criminals wherever they are in the world.

“No matter how hard they try to evade justice they will not succeed.”

Pictures released by SOCA showed how the criminal changed his appearance by growing a moustache and his hair, as well as wearing glasses.

In one photograph Moran is posing with a rifle, while in another he is brandishing two automatic weapons.

Moran had been tracked down to the Murcia area of Spain in November 2012, but he managed to escape from local officers by ramming two police vehicles in his 4x4 and driving away at speed the wrong way down a motorway.

During a search of the house he was living in at the time, a handgun, ammunition, five kilos of cannabis and a vacuum packing machine were recovered.

Accomplice Devalda, also of Salford, was arrested after armed police swooped while he was checking out of a hotel with friends in Marbella.