Fiona Govan
SPAIN is making an extradition bid for serial fraudster Mark Acklom that could scupper his early release from prison later this month.
Acklom is due to be released on licence in late August having served just a third of the five years and eight months jail sentence he was given for conning a woman out of all her savings.
He convinced Carolyn Woods, a divorcee from Gloucester to hand over £800,000 after posing as an MI6 agent and Swiss banker during a year-long relationship in which he promised marriage.
In fact, he was already married and lived just a few miles away with his wife and two young children.
After convincing Woods to part with her savings as a bridging loan for renovation work at a number of properties he claimed to own in Bath in 2013, he vanished.
He fled to Spain with his Spanish wife, where he used a new alias to continue his conning ways.
An Olive Press investigation revealed he also had links to both the Murcia region and Marbella on the Costa del Sol.
He was arrested in Spain in 2015 and jailed for three years for cons that included defrauding two brothers by selling them non-existent land he claimed to own in London.
However, Acklom was given temporary release halfway through his sentence and fled to Switzerland before changing his name.
He was finally tracked down and arrested in a town outside Zurich on a European Arrest warrant after he was publicised under the National Crime Agency’s Operation Captura as one of Britain’s 96 most wanted criminals living abroad.
Although he is now expected to be released in two weeks, Spanish authorities have asked for his extradition so he can complete the outstanding 18 months of his sentence.
A court hearing in London is expected to rule on the issue within days.
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