4 Nov 2011

Fake death fugitive arrested

5:16 am on 4 November 2011

A British man accused of faking his own death so that his wife could claim his life insurance, has been arrested in Australia.

Hugo Jose Sanchez, 47, also known as Alfredo, faces extradition.

Mr Sanchez was found in Sydney on Wednesday, five years after British police began investigating him.

He is accused of faking his own death to secure a life insurance payout of about £1 million.

The BBC reports his wife, Sophie, 43, told his employers that he had died on a holiday to South America and had been cremated.

She has been sentenced to two years in prison after returning to Britain in September last year for a family engagement.

On 27 October, she was ordered to repay £158,000 to HMV after a confiscation hearing at Oxford Crown Court.

The couple previously lived in Farnham, Surrey. Suspicious were aroused when Mr Sanchez's fingerprints were found on his death certificate.

Australian Federal Police said Mr Sanchez appeared at a court in Sydney on Thursday after being charged with insurance fraud.