Manchester criminals arrested in Cheshire hotel hot tub

A wanted criminal and an arsonist were caught in their swimming trunks by police after taking a dip in a hotel's hot tub.

The arrests, on CCTV, show officers arresting Kane Birch, 23, and Macauley Peacock, 24, at a Warrington hotel where they were hiding out.

A third man, Dean Murphy, was found asleep in a room at the hotel, where police seized a loaded Glock pistol.

The men have been jailed for a range of drug and gun offences.

Acting on information the men were hiding out the Village Hotel, officers arrived to find Birch and Peacock in the spa area on 25 June.

The men had used a false name to book a room where officers later found the loaded gun, an encrypted mobile phone and the key to a stolen Audi car.

Peacock and Murphy were jailed at Chester Crown Court on Monday.

Peacock, of Kilmaine Avenue in Blackley, Manchester, was jailed for 14 years, five for being in possession of a firearm and nine for arson with intent to endanger life relating to an offence in Manchester.

Murphy, ofManchester, was sentenced to eight years, five for being in possession of a firearm and three for heroin and crack cocaine offences.

At a previous court hearing in September, Birch, of Ainsbrook Avenue in Manchester was jailed for four years for conspiracy to supply crack cocaine and heroin after playing a significant role in orchestrating a county lines network to supply Class A drugs from Manchester to Macclesfield.

Det Ch Insp Mike Evans said: "These men knew they were wanted by police, yet they naively believed by hiding out in a hotel they would avoid detection - they were proved wrong."