British conman suspected for injuring French police

A notorious British conman who was the subject of a recent Netflix documentary is being sought by French police for injuring two officers while fleeing an identity check, local officials said Friday.

Martine Laporte, the mayor of Vidaillat in the sparsely populated Creuse region, told AFP that conman Robert Hendy-Freegard had been living in the village since 2015.

Labour inspectors accompanied by police officers carried out an inspection on Thursday at his kennels where he breeds dogs with his reclusive partner.

“While police were asking one of the partners to accompany them to the nearest station, the individual started his vehicle and hit two officers before fleeing,” a statement from the police in the Creuse region said.

One of the officers was hospitalised with a significant wound to his nose, police said, adding that the suspect fled in an Audi A3 car.

Hendy-Freegard, a 51-year-old former salesman and barman, has been dubbed “The Puppet Master” for his ability to exert control over his victims.

He was jailed for life by a London court in 2005 for deception, theft and kidnapping in an extraordinary trial that heard from seven victims whose money he used to enjoy luxury cars, expensive meals and five-star holidays.

But the kidnap charges were later quashed on appeal and he was released from prison in 2009.

He was the subject of the Netflix documentary “The Puppet Master: Hunting the Ultimate Conman” earlier this year.

In it, the children of a woman believed to be his current partner, Sandra Clifton, said she disappeared after meeting him.

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

He had persuaded his victims to believe he was a British intelligence officer and 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, convinced she would be shot by a sniper if she dare leave.