A conman who posed as an MI5 spy during a £1 million “odyssey of deceit” was jailed for life in 2005. Robert Hendy-Freegard, a 34-year-old semi-literate former car salesman nicknamed “The Puppetmaster”, seduced and ruthlessly exploited his victims during a 10-year period.

He convinced some of his victims to go on the run from terrorists and swindled others for huge sums of money. Using a blend of “devious charm”, claims that he was an MI5 agent and James Bondtype tales of shadowy IRA killers, he systematically shredded his victims’ self-respect and turned most into virtual slaves.

At least seven of his victims were women, including a psychologist. In 2002, Scotland Yard and the FBI organised a sting operation. First, the FBI bugged the phone of an American psychologist’s parents. Her mother told Hendy-Freegard she would hand over the money he demanded, but only in person. Hendy-Freegard met the mother at Heathrow airport where the police apprehended him.