It is an astounding story of fraud, exploitation and abuse.
The Puppet Master: Hunting the Ultimate Conman is a jaw-dropping three-part series about one of the world’s most audacious scam artists who posed as an undercover spy to fleece at least seven women and one man.
Over the course of a decade, Robert Hendy-Freegard stole close to a million pounds from his traumatised victims - leading them to believe they were accomplices in highly-elaborate, secret service operations and their families were in danger if they did not obey.
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Hendy-Freegard exploited, abused and controlled them with extreme cruelty, confident his victims were too paralysed by fear to escape.
And the story reaches into the present day - with a family who fear for their mother’s safety.
Although hard to believe, The Puppet Master: Hunting the Ultimate Conman is based on real events. The true-crime documentary is streaming on Netflix now.
Who is The Puppet Master, Robert Hendy-Freegard?
Hendy-Freegard, now 50, was born in Dronfield, north east Derbyshire, and started off working as a barman and car salesman.
He met his victims while working in the pub or car dealership, claiming to be an undercover agent for MI5 and fooling them into believing they were in danger of being assassinated by the IRA.
After winning them over, he conned money out of them and made them cut off their families - while coercing them to go underground.
His first victim was John Atkinson, a student at an agricultural college in Shropshire. It was 1992 and Hendy-Freegard, posing as an undercover agent, said another student at the college had recently been arrested for gun-running for the IRA.
Then he convinced Atkinson that he and his two roommates - Sarah Smith and Maria Hendy - were in danger because their other housemate was suspected of similar crimes - persuading the trio to flee because their lives were under threat from the IRA.
It was the start of a 10-year ordeal that saw Sarah Smith forced to move home, disguise herself with various haircuts and hide away in safe houses.
Maria Hendy, on the other hand, became the conman’s girlfriend for more than nine years, having two children with him.
What happened to Robert Hendy-Freegard?
Atkinson went to police in 2002 after finally realising he had been duped and feeling enormous guilt about what had happened to his two former roommates.
Police inquiries uncovered that Hendy-Freegard had scammed other women - using the money to fund an extravagant, jet-setting lifestyle.
It transpired he had also got engaged to an American child psychologist called Kim Adams.
In 2002, Scotland Yard and the FBI organised a sting operation to track down Hendy-Freegard. With the help of Adams’ parents, officers lured him to Heathrow airport and arrested him.
In 2005, the conman was handed a life sentence after being found guilty of kidnapping, theft and deception.
Two years later, however, he walked free from jail when the kidnapping convictions were overturned on appeal after he argued his victims were free to leave him at any time.
But that still wasn’t the end of the story.
Where is the Puppet Master, Robert Hendy-Freegard, now?
Moving onwards to 2012, and teenage siblings Jake and Sophie Clifton are increasingly concerned about their mum Sandra and the behaviour of her new boyfriend, ‘David’, who seems to have money despite not working, and is worryingly secretive.
It emerges ‘David’ is Hendy-Freegard.
Now young adults, Jake and Sophie haven’t seen mum Sandra in person since she left town with Hendy-Freegard some years ago. Although the kids have spoken to her on the phone, she has not revealed her whereabouts.
Hendy-Freegard’s current location is unknown.
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