This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

A man has been jailed for five years and eight months for swindling his ex-girlfriend out of nearly £300,000 before disappearing without a trace.

Mark Acklom, 45, had tricked Carolyn Woods into lending him thousands of pounds while pretending to be in a “committed relationship” with her. He also promised to marry her despite continuing to live with his wife and two children.

The fraudster, who posed as a Swiss banker and MI6 agent, defrauded Woods out of her personal finances to pay off his extravagant lifestyle, leaving her in “total financial ruin” before fleeing the country.

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Woods, 61, said Acklom had “destroyed” her life and she was left “totally helpless”.

She said in a victim impact statement at Bristol crown court: “Mark Acklom acted deliberately, and in the most calculated, pre-meditated way, to defraud me of all my money and nearly all my personal possessions, and to deprive me of my home and my job, thereby rendering me totally helpless and at his mercy.

“He also deliberately isolated me from my family and friends, and played psychological games to deceive me and engender a sense of fear in me. It was an act of the utmost cruelty, designed to destroy my life for his personal gain. I have felt condemned to a life that I don’t want and I grieve for the life I once had.”

Woods, who has two children, lent Acklom a total of £299,564 in 2012 after cashing in all her pension and life savings.

Acklom had used the money to fund renovation works at properties in Bath, Somerset, purchase a Porsche and rent a Georgian manor in the city.

Woods said she had post-traumatic stress disorder and was struggling to pay huge debts.

Acklom was placed under the country’s most wanted list for British fugitives. A European arrest warrant was issued in 2016 as authorities try to track him down in Operation Captura, a joint effort between the National Crime Agency and Crimestoppers to trace criminals who escape across borders.

In 2017, authorities located him Geneva, Switzerland, where he was believed to have lived with his family. Acklom was arrested a month later in Zurich, where he was staying in a luxury apartment under a false name after nearly two years on the run.

When he was arrested, he was married to his wife Maria Yolanda Ros Rodriguez, who he had two daughters with. She also had false identities including Yolianda Ross, Maria Long and Mary Moss.

Acklom was extradited to the UK from Switzerland earlier this year to face the fraud charges.

On Wednesday, he pleaded guilty to five counts of fraud by false representation before he was to face a trial.

Judge Martin Picton said: “You took advantage of your victim in a cruel and cynical manner, and whilst you did not target her from the outset it was plain once you knew what you might gain from her financially that you set out to do so in a ruthless and selfish manner.

“Since then you’ve not made any effort to make good for the harm you did. She’s not seen a penny of the money you took off her and I feel it’s unlikely she will ever do so.”