A FUGITIVE former soap star wanted for masterminding a €16 million fake-modelling scam that conned more than 6,000 people has been arrested in Torrevieja.
Philip Barry Foster, 51, who played Christian Wright in the Channel 4 soap Brookside during the 1990s, was arrested by the Guardia Civil in Torrevieja on Thursday, Spanish newspaper El Mundo reported.
It ends a four-month manhunt as one of Britain’s most wanted fugitives, whose face appeared prominently in a fresh appeal last May.
Foster fled his upmarket flat in Torrevieja’s Punta Prima district just days after Britain’s National Crime Agency named him on its Operation Captura list of most-wanted fugitives believed to be hiding in Spain.
He had spent the earlier years of his fugitive life living openly in Marbella, funding a lifestyle of watches and cars with laundered proceeds, before relocating along the coast to Torrevieja, where the Guardia Civil finally tracked him down.
He had been sentenced in absentia to eight-and-a-half years in prison in February last year, after running an elaborate network of sham modelling agencies that lured young hopefuls and their parents with the promise of a professional modelling career, before charging them for poor-quality portfolio photographs that led nowhere.
READ MORE: Ex-British TV soap star turned criminal on ‘Most Wanted List’ flees after hiding out on Costa Blanca
Operating for more than eight years from a base in Marbella, Foster and eight associates targeted victims through social media adverts across England, offering free test shoots before pressuring parents and hopefuls into credit deals and payday loans to cover the cost of glossy portfolios that never led to paid work.
Lord Bichard, chairman of National Trading Standards, said: “Foster’s cruel exploits left thousands of victims in serious debt, causing lasting emotional distress and significant financial pressures.”
The judge who sentenced him, Judge Dixon, went further, branding the scheme ‘horrible, despicable, dishonest behaviour.’
He becomes one of more than 250 British fugitives Spanish police have arrested since 2019, part of a long-running collaboration between the Guardia Civil, Policia Nacional and the anonymous tip-off service Crimestoppers.
Foster’s son, Michael, was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in absentia for his part in the scheme and is also believed to be hiding out in Spain.
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