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British conman accused of ramming police with car goes on trial in France

Robert Hendy-Freegard, 53, a serial swindler who featured in Netflix documentary, allegedly injured officers in getaway attempt

When French workplace and animal rights inspectors, accompanied by gendarmes, visited the property on 25 August 2022 to inspect the kennels after complaints from neighbours that he was running an illegal business, Hendy-Freegard allegedly jumped in his Audi A3 in an attempt to escape, hitting the officers in the process. Hendy-Freegard, the central figure in Netflix’s 2022 documentary, The Puppet Master: Hunting the Ultimate Conman, who also inspired a fiction film called Rogue Agent starring James Norton and Gemma Arterton, faces up to 10 years in jail if convicted of deliberately injuring the law enforcement officers. During his London trial, the court was told Hendy-Freegard lived by the motto: “Lies have to be big to be convincing.” One of his victims recalled him taking her from a supposed “safe house” with a bucket over her head, having to hide in cupboards to avoid visitors, and spending three weeks in a locked bathroom with little to eat.

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