Journal De Bruxelles - UK conman to be tried for injuring French police in getaway

Robert Hendy-Freegard, also known as David Hendy, is 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 a million pounds -- 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, with outraged victims warning he would strike again.

Hendy-Freegard had been illegally breeding dogs and living on-and-off in the village of Vidaillat in the sparsely populated Creuse region of central France for seven years when police visited in August 2022 to check on the conditions at the kennels.

He turned up in his car "to ask the police officers what they were doing", a neighbour who witnessed the events told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"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.

A policewoman and a policeman were signed off work for 21 and six days respectively after suffering injuries in the car ramming.

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

- 'Awful conditions' -

Hendy-Freegard, now 53, is to be tried in the nearby town of Gueret.

He could be jailed for up to 10 years if found guilty of the violence that incapacitated the public officials.

Long before police turned up to check out the kennels in 2022, Vidaillat residents had for years been alerting the authorities about a woman living there in "awful conditions" with dogs in an isolated house in the middle of the woods, one neighbour said in 2022.

But the woman who helped breed the beagles at the isolated house told authorities there was no cause for concern, so they did not pursue the case.

However, suspicious nearby residents -- mostly retirees -- had discovered the true identity of their neghbour -- who had assumed a false name -- after accessing press articles on the internet about Hendy-Freegard's criminal past.

And after watching the Netflix documentary about him, they repeated their concerns to authorities.

In the documentary, the son and daughter of a woman called Sandra Clifton -- whom some neighbours also recognised from the isolated house -- said she had disappeared after meeting him.

Clifton has since returned to Britain.

- No 'intent to kill' -

Hendy-Freegard never explained why he rammed into the police officers.

During the investigation in 2023, his then attorney Juliette Magne-Gandois said he had "always denied any intent to kill anyone".

She has, however, since said he no longer wished her to represent him.

During his London trial, Hendy-Freegard was said to have lived by the motto: "Lies have to be big to be convincing".

That trial heard from seven people whose money he used to enjoy luxury cars and five-star holidays.

He had persuaded his victims to believe he was a British intelligence officer and that they were on the run from "terrorists".

One of them, Sarah Smith, recalled incidents such as being taken to a so-called "safe house" with a bucket over her head, having to hide in cupboards to avoid visitors, and spending three weeks in a locked bathroom with little to eat.

R.Vercruysse--JdB