Irishman on the run for 25 years found dead in France

A MAN wanted in connection with a multi-million fraud and who has been on the run for more than 25 years is believed to have been found dead in France.

Robert Stapleton had Irish, British and European warrants for his arrest.

Lincolnshire Police previously said the 67-year-old was wanted over allegations of fraud of £5 million (€5.64m) relating to companies he controlled.

Stapleton, who has appeared on Crimewatch’s Most Wanted board, was arrested on a European arrest warrant in Ireland in 2005 but failed to surrender to extradition and disappeared.

It is now believed his body was found in a town in Brittany, France, around May 22. It is understood his death is not being treated as suspicious.

French authorities are working on the assumption that the dead man is Stapleton, based on the documentation found on his person, but no formal identification is thought to have taken place yet.

A spokesman for Lincolnshire Police said they were awaiting confirmation of formal identification.

Mr Stapleton was wanted in connection with more than 30 offences involving a fraud perpetrated between 1978 and 1982 related to the collapse of his firm, Ultraleisure.

The firm, which marketed foldaway squash courts, collapsed, leaving a division of the British department of trade and industry (DTI) — the Export Credit Guarantee Department, which had guaranteed loans given to the company — out of pocket.

It was alleged that the fraud involved company directors drawing up bogus invoices and supporting documents to show that Ultraleisure had exported goods and services to foreign buyers. Its banks — Lloyds Bank and Coutts — then advanced funds to Ultraleisure in the belief that the transactions represented on the documents were genuine.

When Ultraleisure had to repay the loan, a larger advance was obtained on similarly false documents and part of that was issued to repay the earlier borrowings. Ultraleisure had to borrow larger sums of money to hide the fraud.

Mr Stapleton’s wife was convicted in 1986 in Britain for participation in elements of the fraud and given a suspended sentence.