Maltese police officers who went to the UK to accompany fraudster Patrick Spiteri to Malta to face court returned empty-handed because he was not found.

Mr Spiteri, a lawyer, who had been electronically tagged but paid a deposit to have the tag removed, had to appear in court in Malta today to be charged with fraud.

In November 2014, the convicted conman was arrested in England following an investigation by The Sunday Times of Malta that tracked him down to a country mansion in an upmarket rural town in the UK.

The 51-year-old former tax law guru had been living permanently in the UK since January 2014 in a €4 million country estate set over 15 acres of land, evading the Maltese courts where he is facing eight cases linked to fraud and misappropriation charges running into several million euro.

Since October 2013, he presented medical certificates that claimed he had multiple sclerosis and was unfit to travel. The man accused by many of being a con artist ended up giving himself away with a profile on a dating website.

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