Max Factor heir 'has fled abroad'

An heir to the Max Factor cosmetics fortune on trial in California on serial rape charges is believed to have fled the country.

Andrew Luster, 39, was formally declared a fugitive by the court in Ventura County, north-west of Los Angeles, and the FBI sent out an international appeal for help in tracing him.

Although his passport was confiscated under the terms of his $1m (£620,000) bail, Judge Ken Riley told defence and prosecution lawyers he thought Mr Luster was likely to have fled the country.

Mr Luster is accused of using the drug GHB to knock out at least three women and then have sex with them as they lay unconscious in his seaside home.

His activities, with a running commentary, were captured on videotapes that have been shown to the jury since the trial began in mid- December.

According to prosecutors, who argued from the start that the defendant should not be offered bail, Mr Luster took advantage of a two-week holiday hiatus in the trial to pack his bags and flee.

After he failed to report in to his probation officer last Friday, police spent the weekend swarming over his house to see what had gone missing. They found empty clothing drawers, shelves cleared of Indian artefacts, a stack of unopened mail left neatly on a table and no sign of his dog.

Judge Riley said there was no reason not to proceed with the trial. One of Mr Luster's alleged victims, identified as Shawna Doe, described the disgust she felt at seeing herself on videotape being sexually attacked.

One the tape, she is heard loudly snoring as Mr Luster boasts about his dream of having "a strawberry blonde passed out on my bed".

Prosecutors told The Independent 18 months ago that they believed the only reason Mr Luster had been given bail was because of his money and connections.

Yesterday, they were pessimistic on the chances of finding him. The Mexican border is a four-hour drive from Ventura County, and US citizens need only a driving licence to cross over to Tijuana, the nearest Mexican town.