TWO purse snatchers responsible for a spate of thefts across Bolton have been caught after going on the run.

Josef Byhar and his wife, Kveta Bihariova, both aged 37, have been picked up by police two months after fleeing the town when they were warned by a judge that they faced jail.

Details of the couple were passed on to other police forces and they were arrested in West Yorkshire.

They have now been remanded in custody after appearing at Bolton Crown Court and will be sentenced on Friday, June 23.

The couple, with an address in Bradford Road, Farnworth, are known to have been responsible for at least 10 thefts.

Byhar kept elderly women chatting while his wife stole purses from their handbags in shops and markets across Bolton.

Their crime spree was brought to an end when CCTV cameras filmed them stealing from 73-year-old Mary Riley last November. Byhar talked to the pensioner in an aisle at the Late Shop in Market Street, Westhoughton, while his wife snatched a purse from her handbag.

Pictures released by the police were published in the Bolton Evening News and led to a flood of calls from readers who named the pair as the thieves.

They were arrested in January and police found a number of items at their home. They were linked to robberies in Bolton and Farnworth which were committed between July last year and January this year.

Byhar and Bihariova, who are Czech nationals, pleaded guilty to one charge of theft at Bolton Magistrates Court in January.

They were remanded on bail for sentencing at Bolton Crown Court, but fled the area.

A warrant was issued for their arrest after they failed to appear at the court at the end of March.

District Judge Michael Singleton had committed the couple to the Crown Court, where a more severe sentence could be handed out, as the maximum prison sentence which could have been imposed by magistrates was six months.