The Daily Telegraph

Police appeal to Europe’s private schools to help find UK conman

- By Rozina Sabur

POLICE are asking private schools to help them find Britain’s most-wanted fugitive as they are convinced his children are enjoying a good education somewhere in Europe.

Mark Acklom, 44, has been on the run since he was accused of conning a British divorcee out of £850,000 by pretending to be an MI6 agent.

Officers believe Acklom may be living “as an ordinary family man” with his wife, Maria Yolanda Ros Rodriguez, and is likely to have sent his children to a top private school.

Yesterday police publicly named Acklom’s wife, Rodriguez, 47, as they believe she could be helping him avoid capture. They also released details of the couple’s two daughters, aged eight and six. Rodriguez goes by the aliases Yolanda Ros, Maria Long and Mary Moss and is possibly running yoga lessons while Acklom may be working in the property sector.

The couple’s two children were enrolled at a £6,200-a-year internatio­nal private school in Murcia, Spain, until police appealed for Acklom last year. They then disappeare­d with the family.

Acklom is wanted for conning Carolyn Woods, 60, from Bath, Somerset, out of her life savings after promising to marry her. Ms Woods was running a boutique in 2012 when Acklom entered and charmed her with tales of a successful career and lavish lifestyle.

He said he was a Swiss banker and MI6 agent, and promised to marry her during a year-long romance. At the time he pretended to be commuting daily from Zurich, but was living nearby with his wife and daughters. Later, he told her he had a “cash flow problem”. She offered to lend him £26,000 but eventually ended up giving him everything she had. Speaking at the time, she said: “I know it’s very unlikely I’ll get my money back but I would like to see him in court.”

Acklom, a former public schoolboy, was jailed aged 16 for stealing his father’s credit card. He later went on to pose as a stockbroke­r in a £1million fraud. He has been on the National Crime Agency’s most-wanted list for nearly a year and is the subject of a European Arrest Warrant. In May he was spotted with José Manuel Costas Estévez, also wanted for fraud, at Lake Geneva, but Swiss police failed to catch them. British police are now appealing to expats with children in internatio­nal schools to look out for two new girls who may have recently joined.

Det Insp Adam Bunting, leading the hunt, said: “He is a convincing fraudster and we’re working hard to locate him as soon as possible.

“It’s highly likely Mark Acklom will have placed his children in another fee-paying school.”

 ??  ?? Mark Acklom and wife Maria. He is wanted for conning a woman out of £850,000
Mark Acklom and wife Maria. He is wanted for conning a woman out of £850,000
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