British love fraudster jailed for five years after Swiss extradition

The suspect was arrested in Wädenswil, a town 20km south of Zurich Keystone

A British man has been jailed in the UK for five years and eight months for swindling his ex-girlfriend out of her life savings. The man was extradited to the UK from Switzerland earlier this year after nearly two years on the run. 

Mark Acklom, 45, had duped Carolyn Woods into lending him £300,000 (CHF355,459) while pretending to be in a “committed relationship” with her and leading her to believe that marriage was imminent. However, he was still living with his wife and two children. 

At Bristol Crown Court on Wednesday, Acklom pleaded guilty to five fraud charges. He was jailed for five years and eight months. 

The conman, who posed as a Swiss banker and secret service agent, had defrauded Woods out of her finances, acting in a calculated way to leave her “totally helpless”, she said in a statement at the court. He skipped the country at the end of their yearlong relationship in Bath in 2012 leaving her penniless.  

Acklom was placed on the “most wanted” list for British fugitives. A European arrest warrant was issued in June 2016. There were reports that he had fled the country to Spain and later to Switzerland.  

In 2017, the authorities located him in Geneva, Switzerland, where he was believed to have lived with his family (wife and two children). In July 2018, police arrested him at a luxury apartment near Lake Zurich where media reported him running a firm claiming to make black box data recorders for driverless cars. He was extradited to the UK from Switzerland earlier this year to face the fraud charges.