A SUFFOLK man who was extradited back to the UK from Spain after going on the run ten years ago has been jailed for three years for his part in a £980,000 fraud.

A SUFFOLK man who was extradited back to the UK from Spain after going on the run ten years ago has been jailed for three years for his part in a £980,000 fraud.

Mark Henderson, 40, who was living at Pot Ash Cottages, Laxfield at the time of the fraud in the 1990s is currently serving an eight year jail sentence imposed by a Spanish court for an offence of attempted murder.

Henderson was extradited back to the UK last July by a Spanish court which ordered him to serve the balance of his sentence for the attempted murder in the UK.

Yesterday Henderson appeared at Ipswich Crown Court and pleaded guilty to four offences of conspiracy to defraud.

Jailing him for three years to run consecutively to his current sentence Judge John Holt said the fraud offences had been committed over a 20-month period and Henderson had played a major role in them.

Sir Derek Spencer prosecuting, told the court that the offences which took place between June 1993 and April 1995 related to the setting up of four companies which were used to carry out the frauds.

None of the companies had previously traded and the dishonesty involved the obtaining of goods on credit and then not paying for them.

Sir Derek said false references were provided to credit companies and the proceeds of the sale of the goods had been cashed.

Each of the companies only traded for a few months before vacating their premises and no proper business records were found for them.

Sir Derek said the frauds were carried out in Suffolk, Essex and Cambridgeshire and he said in 1997/98 a number of people pleaded guilty to their part in the conspiracy.

Charles Conway for Henderson, said his client had a partner and two children in Spain.

He said Henderson had been an exceptional prisoner during his time in custody. “He wants to convince the court that he is a reformed man. He is a model prisoner.”

In 1998 Henderson's wife Samantha was ordered to forfeit £10,000 for misleading police over his whereabouts after he went on the run.

Mrs Henderson, who was then 30, of Dennington Road, Laxfield and her mother Betty Cooper, of the same address, had stood as sureties for Mr Henderson while he was facing the fraud allegations that the court heard about yesterday.

Both Mrs Henderson and her mother had each been ordered to forfeit £10,000.