Police close in on woman

A fresh warrant to arrest has been issued for a woman who allegedly committed multiple frauds and sailed to Australia in a stolen yacht.

Police believe they now know where Simone Anne Wright is in Australia. The 40-year-old is the partner of a man already in custody in New Zealand facing 60 charges.

Judge Tony Couch issued the warrant at the request of police in Christchurch District Court yesterday. The new charges against Wright are 11 frauds totalling $77,173, all allegedly committed jointly with her partner, Paul James Bennett, 53.

Ten of the charges refer to obtaining funds by deception, and one refers to a motorcycle. The offences are alleged to have been committed in 2007 and 2008 in Whangarei, Auckland, New Plymouth, Taupo, Palmerston North, Cust in rural Canterbury, Naseby in Central Otago, and Invercargill.

Police got an arrest warrant for her in December when they laid a charge alleging that she had stolen a $145,000 yacht from Paihia in the Bay of Islands in 2015.

Bennett was deported from Australia and arrested when he arrived at Christchurch International Airport in May 2016. He has been in custody since then and denies the charges.

When the yacht theft charge was laid against Wright, her address was given as ‘‘Australia’’. That address remains on the 11 new charges laid yesterday, but police prosecutor Sergeant Iain Patton told Judge Couch: ‘‘Police are aware of a more definite location where she does reside.’’

Patton said police were liaising with Australia, and the new warrant would allow them to ‘‘progress matters in both jurisdictions’’.