Conman Robert Taylor-Barefoot now behind bars
A conman from Shropshire who went on the run for more than a year to avoid jail for fraud before being caught living the high life in Australia will serve just two extra months in prison, a judge has ruled.
Broker Robert Taylor-Barefoot, 34, from Shifnal, fled the UK just before he was due to be sentenced at the Old Bailey with business partner Jeremy Wright, of Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire.
They had admitted trading in an unlicensed hedge fund and spending cash they said would be invested on an extravagant lifestyle.
More than £40,000 was blown on champagne and strippers in West End bars including Mahiki, a favourite haunt of Prince Harry, and £25,000 was withdrawn in cash.
A further £10,000 was spent on Taylor-Barefoot's wedding to now-estranged wife Serena, who lives in Ludlow. Police did not seize his passport and as he was being sentenced to six-and-a-half years in September last year, he was already on his way to Cairns, Queensland.
Assuming the name Sam Jeffers, he posed as a social media marketing guru. Friends told of seeing him with lots of women. But his double life was uncovered when police arrested him on suspicion of drink driving and a search revealed his real passport. Taylor-Barefoot was deported to the UK last week and at the Old Bailey on Monday Judge
Nicholas Cooke said he would serve the original sentence and two months for skipping bail.
Police Staff Investigator Perry Sands, of City of London Police, said: "The investigation team's very pleased this convicted criminal is now where he should be, behind bars."
