Ilpo Larha

Who was Ilpo Larha?

Ilpo Tapio Larha was a Finnish criminal.

Larha became famous when he committed the contract murder of 77-year-old crippled businessman Wilhelm Högsten in Jollas, a suburb of Helsinki, on 24 April 1992. Larha was hired by Högsten's 47-year-old son Fred. Larha, Högsten and 31-year-old businessman Hannu Ratia, who drove Larha to the site of the murder, were sentenced to life in prison.

On 25 February 1994 Larha escaped from a Helsinki state prison with 37-year-old Kullervo Haikas, alias Pertti Ruokolainen, who had been serving a 13-year sentence for drug crimes.

On 1 March, Larha robbed a bank in Pitäjänmäki, nearly killing a cashier.

After this, Larha and Haikas barricaded themselves with two hostages in an apartment in Lahti. Police discovered them on 15 March. This started a siege that lasted for 55 hours. While Haikas and the hostages were rescued, Larha committed suicide on 17 March 1994, shooting himself simultaneously with two handguns.

Finland's president Tarja Halonen pardoned Hannu Ratia in the end of 2005 and Fred Högsten in May 2006.