A fake -British spy, whose shocking crimes were exposed in a hit Netflix show, was imprisoned in France for six years after he had been degraded £ 1 million of five people.
Robert Hendy-Freegard, 53, a notorious Cong who once posed as a MI5 agent, was convicted on Thursday in Guéret, Central France, after a dramatic attempt to avoid the recording in August 2022.
The Master manipulator, who was the subject of the puppeteer: hunting the ultimate Can and inspired the film Rogue Agent, lived under a false identity in a remote French village, with an illegal dog break.
Hendy-Freegard came up for the first time in Falky in 2005, when he was convicted in the UK for kidnapping, deception and fraud.
He convinced a series of very respectable women that he was an undercover MI5 agent and they were IRA goals because they knew him, with several of his victims who understood themselves for years.
As he became more confident, Hendy-Freegard controlled five victims at the same time, so that they were kept in various 'safe houses' throughout the country and used a mixture of charm and threat to keep them under his enchantment.
His crimes always started in the same way. He would meet victims on social occasions or as customers in the pub or car dealer where he was working.
He would later reveal his 'role' as an undercover agent for MI5, special branch or Scotland Yard who worked against the IRA. He would win them, ask for money and have them offered.
Hendy-Freegard, who is called 'the puppet master' because of the control he has carried out on his victims, was imprisoned in the UK in 2005 for kidnapping by fraud, theft and getting money through fraud in prison
He became the subject of a Netflix documentary that was broadcast in 2022
His tactic was horrifying – he breathe his victims, cut them off their families and let them get rid of their life horses.
According to the judicial evidence, he convinced seven women and a man that he was an MI5 agent who protected them against the IRA and forced them to hand over to £ 1 million cash.
Convicted of life in prison, he ran free in 2009 after his abduction of the kidnapping on appeal was annulled – because compulsive control was not yet recognized as a criminal offense.
By 2015, Hendy-Freegard appeared again in France and settled in the small village of Vidaillat under a new identity.
The local population noticed something strange – a pale, withdrawn woman, later identified as Sandra Clifton, was always at the house, who never lay or spoke to anyone, while Hendy -Freegard often disappeared for a long time.
Neighbors, many of them pensioners, started digging in his past and were shocked to discover his criminal record.
“We recognized him from the Netflix documentary,” a local told AFP.
They repeatedly warned the authorities, but the police said they could not intervene because Clifton had not filed a complaint.
By 2022 the situation had come to a head.
Hendy-Freegard poses in front of the camera after his conviction for kidnapping and deception, 23 June 2005 at BlackFriars Crown Court in London
The children of Clifton, who had publicly begged her return to the Netflix series, flew to France to organize an intervention – helped by the neighbors and local officials involved.
Under the guise of an investigation into animal welfare, the authorities began to remove the illegally bred Beagles from the building, hoping that the Clifton would convince to leave.
But when the last dogs were loaded into a life car, Hendy-Freegard suddenly appeared in his car.
A witness remembered: 'The police began to interrogate him, but he still had the keys in the inflammation. He suddenly turned the engine and left – touched two officers as he fled. '
The wounded officers were taken to the hospital, while Hendy-Vrijgard managed to escape across the border to Belgium.
The fugitive was arrested in Belgium days later and was extradited to France, where he has been in custody since October 2022.
On Thursday, a French court sentenced him to six years in prison and rejects his claims that he “got panicked” and was not intended to hit the officers.
Public Prosecutor Alexandra Pethieu apologized and described his actions as' a terrible scene worthy of 'Mad Max'.
In the meantime, Sandra Clifton has since returned to Great Britain, finally free from the man who kept her under his spell for years.
