Brit who posed as spy and Swiss banker to swindle lover deported to UK

British conman Mark Acklom, who was arrested in Zurich last year over accusations he conned a woman out of her life savings, has arrived back in the UK after a Swiss court rejected his claims he should not be deported because of Brexit.

Published: 22 February 2019 21:08 CET

Brit who posed as spy and Swiss banker to swindle lover deported to UK

Mark Acklom is one of the most wanted fugitives in the UK. Photo: Avon and Somerset Police

Acklom, who faces charges related to 20 fraud offences, arrived in the UK on Friday evening, British media reported.

Mark Acklom who is wanted in the UK on 20 fraud charges after he allegedly stole the life savings of a woman from Gloucestershire has arrived back in the country he fled in 2012

— Sky News Breaking (@SkyNewsBreak) February 22, 2019

His deportation came after the Swiss Federal Supreme court dismissed his claim that he should not be sent back to the UK because Brexit could mean that European human rights guarantees might cease to apply in the UK.

The court was not impressed and ruled the human rights situation in the UK was not a barrier to deportation, Swiss tabloid Blick reported.

Acklom was arrested in dramatic circumstances in the canton of Zurich last year after he jumped from a balcony at an apartment in Wädenswil to try and evade police.

He is accused of posing as a Swiss banker during a year-long relationship with Carolyn Woods, 61, during which he allegedly tricked her into lending him £850,000 (960,000 Swiss francs) for property development.

She said he told her the banking job was a cover and he was really an agent with Britain's foreign intelligence spy agency MI6, according to a statement from the National Crime Agency.

A Europe-wide manhunt was launched when he disappeared.

Acklom was traced first to Spain and then to Switzerland, where he was arrested, living under a fake name with his wife and two children.

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Two victims suffered serious wounds, police said. The attacker was also in hospital being treated for injuries that investigators said were self-inflicted.

The man was “believed to be of foreign origin” and was aged about 40, police said in a statement which added that he was thought to have acted alone.

All of the injured remained hospitalised late Wednesday.

Armed with “sharpened or pointed” metal weapons, the man first lashed out at a passer-by at the railway station in the town of 12,000 people in the Aargau canton, about 60 kilometres (38 miles) west of Zurich, police said.

He then wounded several people seemingly at random before entering a house, police added.

Among those attacked were two teachers from the Zofingen cantonal school, the institution’s director, Patrick Strossler, told 20minuten.ch news website.

The Aargauer Zeitung newspaper quoted one man as saying his pregnant wife had been among those attacked. She was cut in the face but her life was not threatened.

After two hours of negotiations with a specialised team, the man was arrested in the house, police said. The suspect had injured himself and was taken to hospital, said Bernhard Graser, a police spokesman.

Graser told the Zofinger Tagblatt newspaper that the attacker’s injuries were self-inflicted.

Police have called for witnesses to share video or photos that may be useful for their investigation.

Images shown by Aargauer Zeitung showed a large deployment of police and emergency vehicles. The security forces had assault rifles and bullet-proof vests.

A police helicopter landed on a nearby sports field, causing the local youth football team to cut short a training session, the newspaper said.