DOWNFALL OF SILVER -TONGUED CONMAN
Jailed at last, the fake spy who tricked divorcee out of her life savings
A SERIAL conman who posed as a Swiss banker and a spy to swindle a divorcee out of her life savings has finally been jailed after spending years on the run.
Lifelong fraudster Mark Acklom, 45, admitted duping mother-of-two Carolyn Woods, 61, out of nearly £300,000 while pretending he was going to marry her.
Acklom, who was already married, has a long list of previous convictions and at one point was Britain’s most wanted conman. He tricked Miss Woods into lending him £299,564, which she believed was for renovation work on a property he claimed to own.
In fact, he spent the money on a £60,000 Porsche, trips to London and purchases from Harrods before fleeing abroad. He also used it to pay rent of £9,500 a month at the Georgian manor they shared in Bath. Yesterday Acklom was jailed for five years and eight months but Bristol Crown Court heard that his victim is unlikely to see a penny of her money.
Acklom faced 20 charges and had initially been accused of pocketing £850,000 of Miss Woods’ savings. He pleaded guilty to five offences and will not face trial for the remaining 15 but they will remain on the file.
Judge Martin Picton told Acklom he took ruthless advantage of Miss Woods: ‘It is plain that once you knew what you might glean from her, you set about doing so in a ruthless and utterly selfish manner. You were quite prepared to spin a web of lies, and you cared not at all for the emotional impact. The money you did get from her slipped through your fingers like water. Having cut ties from her, you escaped from this country, and since then you have not made any effort to make good the harm that you did.’
A European Arrest Warrant was issued for Acklom in June 2016 when he was believed to be in Spain, having been released from a Spanish prison over a £200,000 property fraud.
In May 2017, the hunt switched to Switzerland after he was photographed at a Geneva cafe by one of his alleged victims, who spotted him by chance.
In July 2018, Acklom was caught while trying to flee his luxury apartment in Wadenswil, near Zurich. He leapt from a first-floor balcony as police raided the rented £1million property, where he was living with his wife Maria Yolanda Ros Rodriguez and their two young daughters, but an officer was waiting below and arrested him.
Acklom first appeared in court in 1990 as a teenager, accused of taking a credit card from a woman he lived with.
A year later, aged 18, he was sent to a young offender institution for crimes he had committed aged 16. He posed as a stockbroker and convinced a building society to give him a £466,000 mortgage.
He also stole his father’s American Express gold card and used it to shop at Harrods, lunch at the Savoy, hire a limousine and party at Stringfellows club.
He has since been jailed for fraud in the UK and in Spain. He has used a series of aliases including Marc Ros Rodriguez, Dr Zac Moss, Mark Conway, George Kennedy, Marc Saunders and Marco Rossi, while claiming to be a barrister, property developer, event manager and a gynaecologist.
Acklom’s lawyer Gudrun Young said he ‘acknowledged in full’ his crimes against Miss Woods and the ‘devastating impact’ they had.
‘He was genuinely romantically involved with her at the beginning and was hoping to pursue a relationship as he and his wife were having marital difficulties,’ she said. ‘He is not the first man to behave in this way and he will not be the last.’
Attempting to justify his behaviour, she added: ‘It is not every day a fraudster uses money from his victim to house them in a Georgian manor.’
The location of Acklom’s wife and children, aged eight and nine, is not known. However Miss Young told the judge he is ‘very keen’ to return to Spain.
Outside court, senior investigating officer Detective Superintendent Gary Haskins said: ‘Mark Acklom is a career criminal and a master manipulator who cared little about the emotional devastation he was leaving in his wake. On the surface, Acklom was charming, affluent and successful. Underneath he was calculating, scheming and obsessive about money’.
Former Detective Inspector Adam Bunting, who led the team that ultimately tracked Acklom down, said: ‘He was an expert at covering his tracks.
‘While I’m pleased he has finally admitted his lies and saved Carolyn from having to give evidence in court, a leopard doesn’t change its spots.’
‘Ruthless, utterly selfish and uncaring’