A notorious conman who spent four years in a British jail has now been sentenced to six years in France for ramming his car into two policemen while trying to avoid questioning. Robert Hendy-Freegard, 53, had moved to a rural area of central France to breed beagles illegally several years ago under a false name. Neighbours had already been suspicious of him before two Netflix documentaries highlighted his activities as a conman. Hendy-Freegard had posed as an MI5 spy to con women and students out of £1m, but he was released after four years when some of his convictions were overturned on appeal. He represented himself at the court in Gueret, saying he had not been aggressive but was worried sick. “I had enough. I panicked,” he told the court, apologising to the two gendarmes he had driven into in the tiny village of Vidaillat west of Clermont-Ferrand. “I didn’t stop because I’m a human being with emotions.” Prosecutor Alexandra Pethieu said the rural area was not a war zone: “And yet that day ended up with a bewildering scene worthy of Mad Max.” One officer was knocked down and another was thrown against the car windscreen for several metres.
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