A conman who pocketed more than £8,000 from victims thinking they were putting down a rental deposit, has been arrested after four months on the run, writes Lindsey Sill.

Acting on an anonymous tip-off, tutor PC Christopher Webber and student policeman Craig Francis arrested Martin Thew at Wear Farm campsite, Teignmouth, on Tuesday last week.

He has been remanded in custody by Torbay Magistrates, pending sentencing at Exeter Crown Court on July 24.

Thew, 47, of Lemonford Caravan Park, Bickington, was convicted last October of ten counts of fraud and one offence of stealing post.

While renting a five-bedroom house in Hele, Torquay, Thew advertised it for rent, pretending to be the owner. He showed the house to at least ten different families, hauling in a total of £8,025 in deposits and rent.

Sentencing was delayed seven times with Thew claiming to be unwell. In March he texted his solicitor minutes before the hearing was due to start, saying he had been diagnosed with an abnormal heart rhythm, which made him pass out under exertion or stress.

A warrant was issued for his arrest.

PC Christopher Webber said: We are very happy to have found him. I assisted DC Croft in the original investigation when he was first arrested on suspicion of those offences, going back eight or nine months.'

Student police officer PC Francis had only been out of police training college for two weeks.