A conman on the run over a £1.4 million fraud has been arrested on the Costa del Sol.
Christopher Woodhead fled the country in 2004, shortly before he was due to stand trial over a swindle involving his Leeds-based housing repair firms which are said to have targeted elderly and vulnerable people.
As well as Leeds and West Yorkshire the scam spread as far as Greater Manchester.
He was found guilty in his absence and given a six-year jail term, with the judge in his case branding him an "amoral fraudster."
Woodhead, from Huddersfield, was thought to have fled to either Spain or Canada.
A Serious Fraud Office spokesman said six years ago in a new appeal, revealing he used an alias of John Christopher Meek: "More than eight years have elapsed but it does not diminish the judicial demand that he serve his sentence."
Spanish police announced today (Saturday, May 25) Woodhead had been held in the town of San Pedro de Alcantara a short drive from the Costa del Sol resort of Marbella.
They described him as a 66-year-old from Huddersfield and identified him by his initials - C.W.
A spokesman for Spain’s National Police said: "C.W was officially made a wanted man in 2008 and is said to have committed a dozen crimes of fraud in the UK while he was in charge of several firms which sold products to other construction companies.
"The fraud consisted of charging for labour services and not carrying them out.
"He also diverted cash to another company through the fictitious supply of materials and creation of fraudulent invoices.
"He used the income he obtained for his own benefit, on things like holidays and maintenance payments to his ex-wife."
"He was arrested in San Pedro de Alcantara, (an attractive coastal town), and taken to a police station once officers confirmed his identity.
'The total fraud he committed came to £1.46 million'
Reports in 2013 said Woodhead said his trial heard he controlled three Sheepscar, Leeds-based firms - Midland Coating Company, Seal Point and the Weather Protection Company.
The reports said he created several companies he claimed were contractors supplying and applying external coating to houses, but the companies did not do the work or did it shabbily before Woodhead took the cash out of the company.
Leeds Crown Court was told he used aggressive sales techniques and scare tactics to con elderly and vulnerable people across West Yorkshire and beyond out of their savings.
Sealpoint and associated firms sold masonry coatings to home owners in northern England and the East Midlands.
The firms ran a large phone sales department from a base in Leeds, cold-calling people to arrange home visits by staff.
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