A serial conman who is the subject of an international manhunt is believed to have slipped the net again, this time in Switzerland.
Mark Acklom, who is accused of romancing a divorcée and duping her out of £850,000 savings, was apparently photographed in Geneva while police were searching for him in Spain.
Acklom, 43, who was first convicted of fraud aged 16, was named last year in a joint Crimestoppers and National Crime Agency campaign as one of the most-wanted fugitives, believed to be hiding in Spain’s expat communities.
Carolyn Woods alleged that he posed as an MI6 agent and conned her into “lending” him the money during a year-long romance in Bath.
Ms Woods told Avon and Somerset police in July 2015 that he was in custody in Spain over an unrelated £200,000 property fraud. However, the force issued a warrant for his extradition only in June last year, three months after he had been released from prison in Spain, and he has since vanished.
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Sky News yesterday reported a suspected sighting of him sitting outside a café in Geneva on May 10. By the time police were informed and put surveillance in place, he had disappeared.
A spokesman for the National Crime Agency said: “The NCA is working closely with the Swiss authorities and our other international partners to locate him. If anyone has information on his whereabouts they can contact Crimestoppers anonymously or their local police.”
Ms Woods told Sky: “I’m not really surprised that he’s sitting openly in public because he is supremely arrogant and probably feels invincible: not surprising bearing in mind he has slipped through the net so easily.”
In 1991, Acklom received a four-year sentence for a £466,000 mortgage fraud after he posed as a City stockbroker.