Mark Acklom: Serial conman who posed as MI6 spy and Swiss banker faces more time in prison
Mark Acklom is wanted in Spain and faces extradition at the end of his current UK sentence.
Friday 20 September 2019 01:28, UK
Jailed conman Mark Acklom is facing more time in prison after being hit with a new European arrest warrant.
Sky News has discovered the serial fraudster is wanted in Spain and faces extradition at the end of his current UK sentence.
And his wife Maria is now being investigated by UK detectives over fraud and money-laundering allegations.
Acklom, 46, was jailed in Cartagena, near Alicante, in 2015 for duping two Spanish brothers into buying London riverside apartments he pretended he owned.
He was released temporarily when he applied for a pardon after serving nearly a year of his three-year sentence.
He was forced to surrender his passport and ordered to report twice a month to the Spanish court, but he fled almost straight away.
His victims' lawyer Miguel Pouget told Sky News: "We opposed his early release because we were certain he would flee and that's exactly what happened. He didn't get the pardon, but he didn't go back to prison.
"When he's finished his sentence in England, he will be handed to Spanish authorities and brought back to finish his sentence in Spain."
Acklom was eventually tracked down in Switzerland last summer and extradited to the UK in February.
Last month he was jailed at Bristol Crown Court after admitting duping divorcee Carolyn Woods into giving him £300,000.
He had posed as a wealthy Swiss-based banker and MI6 agent, but was living with his wife and children nearby in a mansion rented with the money he stole from Ms Woods.
Avon and Somerset Police told Sky News they were investigating Acklom's Spanish wife Maria as his alleged accomplice.
Adam Bunting, the now-retired detective who led the Acklom case, said: "We were not in a position to charge Maria Ros Rodriguez with any offence. We are still reviewing the position with her in relation to this investigation. We are looking at offences of fraud and potential money laundering."
Ms Ros Rodriguez wasn't in court to see her husband jailed last month and is thought to be living in Spain with the couple's two young daughters.
We've also discovered that while Acklom was fighting UK extradition in Geneva last year he was convicted of Swiss cheque and credit card fraud going back to 2010.
He was jailed for 120 days in the city's Champ Dollon prison before his extradition was approved.
On Monday police are expected to tell a judge what progress they are making in trying to find the millions of pounds they believe Acklom has made during a life of fraud across Europe.