Notorious conman Mark Acklom has been freed from a prison in Spain, where he was extradited days after being released early from a British jail sentence, a court has heard.

The 50-year-old was sentenced to five years and eight months imprisonment in 2019 for defrauding Cotswold divorcee Carolyn Woods out of £300,000 in a romance scam.

Posing as a millionaire Swiss banker and MI6 agent, Acklom promised to marry her but vanished after fleecing her of all her money.

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He had served barely two years of his jail term when he was freed on licence before being secretly flown to Madrid after agreeing to be extradited to serve the rest of his three-year sentence for conning two Spanish brothers into paying him £200,000 as deposits on two flats he claimed to own in London.

The fraudster had fled Spain in 2016 after being released temporarily while he applied for parole. He was wanted for various frauds in three different countries at the time he went on the run.

Sky News tracked him down to Switzerland, from where he was extradited back to the UK in 2019 and jailed.

Since then, prosecutors have been trying to recover the money he stole from Ms Woods using the Proceeds of Crime Act.

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There have been a string of hearings at Bristol Crown Court to establish Acklom’s criminal benefit and available assets.

Judge Martin Picton said on Thursday a four-day hearing will be held on 16 April next year.

Read more:
Conman: The life and crimes of Mark Acklom

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John Hardy KC, prosecuting, said: “I understand Mr Acklom has been released from his Spanish incarceration and, reading between the lines, we do not anticipate that Mr Acklom will seek to attend the hearing in person but may try to attend remotely.”

No details were revealed of his current whereabouts, although Acklom has a Spanish wife and two daughters in the country.

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