GLENWOOD resident Richard Simpson’s relentless search for Brandon William Pyatt, who conned him almost five years ago, finally came to fruition recently after the 64-year-old was arrested in Pretoria.
Simpson said he had met “Brandon Hinchcliffe” in March 2013 at a local sports club and after a few months they became firm friends who went into business together.
“I allowed Brandon to use my vehicle for business but he left Durban and moved to Lions Park. We continued to work but he stopped responding to calls and when I tried to make contact with him and retrieve my vehicle he went completely under the radar. I reported the Jeep stolen and there was a warrant for his arrest, and unfortunately each time he got caught out, he seemed to slip out of the authorities’ hands.”
Pyatt, who is a UK fugitive, has been on the run for 21 years. He was once threatened with legal action for using a photo of former soccer star Eric Cantona on wines and brandy without his consent.
In a media statement The National Crime Agency (NCA) in the UK confirmed that Pyatt had been convicted of a series of fraud and deception offences in Chester Crown Court in 1998 and was sentenced to five years in prison.
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“I am very happy that the law finally caught up with Brandon. I hope he doesn’t get bail, because if he does he will get away and disappear forever. I wish they would take him back to the UK to face criminal charges because he defrauded many people and destroyed people’s livelihoods. About two weeks ago, I was alerted by police that my vehicle had been found abandoned in Grahamstown near a bus terminal. My insurance had already paid out for the car, so I have nothing to do with it, as it no longer belongs to me. The car had been sitting there abandoned for ten days before it got the attention of police and was traced back to me. I would like to assume that he left the car there and got into a bus to the British Embassy in Pretoria as he had no papers,” said Simpson.
In the statement the agency said: “Pyatt, who is originally from Droylsden in Manchester, skipped bail during his trial and fled the UK, sparking a manhunt that lasted more than two decades. Pyatt is believed to have gone abroad immediately after he failed to return to court, and continued to evade the authorities using a series of false identities.”
His initial conviction related to a series of frauds committed by a vehicle-leasing firm operated by Pyatt in the north west of England in the mid-1990s, which led to his victims suffering significant financial loss. According to the NCA, the South African charges would first be dealt with before any extradition proceedings could commence. Pyatt used a string of aliases including Robert Kershaw, Brandon Hinchcliffe, Gary George Pyatt, Gary Pyatt and Brian Moriarty.
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