UK News 24-06-2005 Evil Conman Posed As MI5 Spy who: Barman Robert Hendy-Freegard what: Found guilty of kidnap, theft and deception after years of tormenting his gullible victims where: Blackfriars Crown Court, LONDON when: Thursday snippet: "The saga of a conman who posed as an MI5 agent and dominated the lives of gullible victims ended yesterday with the prospect of a life sentence," says The Times, prior to the sentencing of Robert Hendy-Freegard on Monday. The jury at Blackfriars Crown Court in London found him guilty of two counts of kidnap, ten charges of theft and eight counts of deception on Thursday after hearing about an "unbelievable odyssey of deceit" by a charismatic 34 year-old "semi-literate car salesman". "While he spent money `obsessively` on cars and clothes some of his victims spent years in terror because they believed they were in danger from terrorists," says The Telegraph. "He demanded money to finance their safety and it was raised from families or by loans. Some victims worked in menial jobs and handed their earnings over." "Six of his victims were women and he seduced them all. At one point he was having affairs with five at once," says The Mirror. "Agricultural college students John Atkinson and Sarah Smith, were duped by Hendy-Freegard when he told them `terrorists` were after him. He said they also had to flee because he had befriended them. They suffered `years on the run`." "At first, he was the perfect boyfriend - handsome, attentive, generous, a good listener," says The Guardian`s crime correspondent, Rosie Cowan. "But then things got weird. He would disappear for weeks, and then started to drop hints that he wasn`t just a car salesman; his real job was much more exciting. He would eventually confide that he was, in fact, an MI5 spy being hunted by IRA killers, the reason for his obsessive secrecy and keeping almost constantly on the move." Sarah Smith " was sent out to work 60 hours a week at a chip shop only to have her wages confiscated," says The Sun. "And although he was convicted of stealing around £600,000, police believe his total cash haul was at least £1million." Most staggering of all, student Maria Hendy had two children by the callous charmer, who adopted her surname when he was brought to court. The Guardian says "on one occasion, he smashed one of her teeth but forced her to tell the dentist she had fallen down stairs" and she was kept a "virtual prisoner," according to The Sun. Hendy-Freegard was, however, acquitted on the charge of kidnapping her. [... more]

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