Journal De Bruxelles - British 'Netflix' conman gets six-year prison term in France

Robert Hendy-Freegard, also known as David Hendy, became notorious as the central figure in the documentary "The Puppet Master: Hunting the Ultimate Conman" and the fictional film "Rogue Agent", both available on Netflix.

In 2005, a London court had sentenced Hendy-Freegard to life in prison for kidnapping, deception and stealing from students and women -- from whom he took more than £1 million ($1.24 million at current exchange rates) -- while posing as a spy for MI5, Britain's domestic intelligence service.

But he was freed in 2009 after an appeals court overturned his conviction for kidnapping on the grounds that there had been no physical constraint.

Coercive behaviour in an intimate setting, or psychological manipulation, was not a crime in British law at the time.

More than a decade later, Hendy-Freegard, now 53, appeared in court on Thursday for running over and injuring two police officers in central France's sparsely populated Creuse region in August 2022.

"I had enough. I panicked," he told the court in the town of Gueret.

State prosecutor Alexandra Pethieu had requested a seven-year prison sentence, saying the escape attempt resulted in "an appalling scene worthy of 'Mad Max'".

- Neighbours investigate -

At the time of the incident, Hendy-Freegard had been living on and off in the nearby village of Vidaillat under a fake name since 2015, illegally breeding dogs.

While he often left his home for long periods, a haggard-looking woman always stayed behind to look after a pack of noisy beagles, never leaving the property and hardly interacting with neighbours.

Her neighbours -- many of them retirees -- told AFP they grew increasingly concerned over the years, especially after discovering online Hendy-Freegard's real name and discovering his criminal past.

They said they repeatedly alerted the authorities, who said there was nothing they could do as the woman had not filed a complaint.

Vets had inspected conditions at the kennels and demanded the owner improve them, but did not follow up their inspections.

Then local residents watched the Netflix documentary about Hendy-Freegard that came out in early 2022, in which the son and daughter of a woman called Sandra Clifton appealed for help to find her, saying she had disappeared with the serial swindler.

She looked exactly like the woman holed up in the house next door.

- Caught in Belgium -

The neighbours said they contacted the children, and both came over separately that summer to try to draw their mother out from the grip of the conman, who was away but controlling her behaviour over the phone after convincing her that her family was against her.

In August 2022, her son came over, and with the mayor's office and neighbours, took advantage of repeated warnings from the local animal welfare authority to organise for animal rescuers to take over the care of the beagles so Clifton would agree to leave.

As they were loading the last of the beagles into a truck to be taken away by a charity, Hendy-Freegard turned up in his car.

A neighbour who saw the events, but asked to remain anonymous, said police on site to oversee the procedure started to question Hendy-Freegard.

"They checked his papers, but he still had the keys in the ignition. He turned on the engine and fled, hitting the two cops," the neighbour said.

Hendy-Freegard managed to escape as far as Belgium, but was arrested and then extradited back to France, where he has been in custody since October 2022.

Clifton has since returned to Britain.

S.Lambert--JdB