British fraudster who scammed West Country woman freed from Spanish jail, court told

A notorious British fraudster who was jailed in the UK after conning an ex-girlfriend out of £300,000 has been released from a Spanish prison, a court has heard.

Mark Acklom was extradited to Spain two years ago after being freed from a near six-year sentence imposed in England in 2019.

But a UK court has now been told that the 50-year-old has been released from jail in Spain after serving a further two years’ imprisonment.

No details were revealed of his current whereabouts, although he does have a wife and two children living in Spain.

The serial conman had fled Spain in 2016, midway through a three-year fraud sentence, after being given temporary release while he applied for parole.

He was already wanted by Avon and Somerset Police for scamming his then-girlfriend, Carolyn Woods, out of her life savings in a romance fraud which began in 2012.

During his relationship with Miss Woods, from Gloucestershire, Acklom posed as a Swiss banker and MI6 agent to “destroy” her life.

He claimed he was friends with celebrities including Nicky Clarke and Chris Evans, had spoken to Hillary Clinton and knew fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld, and was involved with secret MI6 missions.

Following his con he was tracked down to Switzerland and extradited back to Britain in 2019, where he was jailed for five years and eight months.

Since then, prosecutors have been using the Proceeds of Crime Act (Poca) to try to recover the money stolen from Ms Woods.

Over the last four years there have been a series of hearings at Bristol Crown Court under Poca legislation to establish Acklom’s criminal benefit and available assets.

The court heard that lawyers representing Acklom have lodged new applications with the court alleging an abuse of process, which will take time for the Crown to respond to.

John Hardy KC, prosecuting, told the court he is content for the full hearing to be postponed until 2024.

“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,” he said.

Judge Martin Picton fixed an administrative hearing for November 10 and said a four-day hearing will begin on April 16 2024.