Britain's 'most wanted woman' captured

A woman on the run for two years for an alleged £300,000 fraud was in custody yesterday after being tracked down to a campsite in Spain.

Fiona Mont, who described herself as The Cat for her ability to avoid capture, fled Sussex in 1999 after being arrested and released on police bail over the alleged computer fraud.

While on the run, she and her boyfriend, Graham Hesketh set up a website to goad detectives, boasting how she had appeared on the BBC Crimewatch show as Britain's "most wanted woman".

Yesterday, the 31-year-old was appearing before a court near Malaga to face an extradition order. A spokesman for Sussex Police said: "We can confirm Fiona Mont was arrested yesterday close to Malaga. She is wanted in Sussex in connection with allegations of conspiracy to defraud and was arrested by Spanish police."

Two Sussex detectives were present at the time of Ms Mont's arrest. One of them, Detective Constable Steve Skerrett, said: "Nobody should think they are above the law."

Ms Mont, who was expelled from the £7,000-a-year St Mary's Hall school in Brighton, is alleged to have planted evidence to suggest she jumped off Beachy Head, near Eastbourne, as police prepared to charge her in 1999. She was believed to have gone to Holland but vanished again in 2000.