The case was all kamoulox: a British crook, gendarmes overthrown in the Creuse, a runaway and a Netflix documentary... The rest of the story will take place in a judge's office in Limoges.

Robert Hendy-Freegard, also known as David Hendy, left the Brussels prison where he was imprisoned on Monday, the Belgian justice having authorized his surrender to the French authorities after having rejected all his appeals.

The defendant was first presented to a judge of freedoms and detention of the judicial court of Valenciennes (North), who "ordered his incarceration", writes the public prosecutor in Limoges, Baptiste Porcher, in a press release, specifying that the Briton will be presented to the investigating magistrate on Thursday.

"At the end of the interrogation, the investigating judge will assess whether the charges brought together justify his indictment, as well as the need to seize the judge of freedoms and detention for placement in pre-trial detention", specifies Baptiste Porcher.

Sentenced to life in England

Well known in Great Britain, Robert Hendy-Freegard is the central subject of the documentary "The Puppetmaster: lessons in manipulation" and the fiction film "Rogue Agent", both broadcast on the Netflix digital platform.

Targeted by a European arrest warrant (EAW) issued by France, this 51-year-old Briton is suspected of having deliberately knocked down two gendarmes with his car on August 25 in Vidaillat (Creuse) during an inspection of his dog breeding.



When the gendarmes asked him to go to the nearest brigade, the suspect started his vehicle and then hit the soldiers while fleeing.

Arrested on September 2 in Grand-Bigard near Brussels, he unsuccessfully challenged his surrender to France before the Belgian courts.

In 2005, he was sentenced in his country to life imprisonment for kidnapping, deception, theft from students and women, from whom he had extracted more than a million pounds, in particular by posing as a spy for the MI5, the British internal intelligence service.

He was released in 2009 after his conviction for kidnapping was overturned by an appeals court.

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