The Puppet Master: Hunting the Ultimate Conman
This chilling three-part documentary series follows the trail of destruction that manipulative conman Robert HendyFreegard has left in his wake over a period of nearly 30 years.
Speaking to some of the people whose lives have been affected by his activities, it opens with an interview with twentysomething siblings Jake and Sophie Clifton who have not seen their mother Sandra for seven years. They describe how after she met ‘David’ back in 2012, their once happy family fell apart as his controlling behaviour alienated her from her children. With rising debts, she then suddenly left the country with David and they fear for her safety.
The film then goes back in time to
1993 when student Sarah Smith and two friends were persuaded by a stranger called ‘Rob’, who claimed he was an MI5 agent, to go on the run as they were in danger from the IRA. Sarah spent the next ten years moving from one ‘safe house’ to the next, financed by money demanded from her worried parents.
The most disturbing aspect of this very dark story is that the perpetrator is still at large. Freegard was arrested back in 2005 for the kidnap and fraud (he had stolen nearly £1m from several different women) and sentenced to life imprisonment. However, he appealed and was – incredibly – released on a legal technicality.