Ex-Brookside star Philip Foster jailed after fleeing UK over £13m fraud on would-be models

A former soap opera star has been jailed for nine years after fleeing the UK for Spain to avoid facing trial for allegedly conning would-be models out of more than £13m.

Philip Foster, who played villain Christian Wright in Channel 4 series Brookside, was jailed in his absence for eight and a half years in February last year for fraud and money laundering, after hiding in Spain before his trial.

Foster, 51, was extradited last month, and was jailed for a further six months for trying to escape justice at Sheffield Crown Court on Friday.

From his base in Spain, he ran a network of sham modelling agencies in cities including London, Manchester, Leeds, Bristol, Coventry and Nottingham, exploiting aspiring young models and their parents for more than eight years.

More than 6,000 victims handed over large sums of money, totalling £13.6m, after being promised they would get paid modelling work, a six-year National Trading Standards (NTS) investigation found.

Lured by social media advertising, victims were told a model agency was interested in them. They were offered a "free" test shoot at a photographic studio, NTS investigators said.

Once there, they were told they had passed their studio test, but they would need to buy a photographic portfolio for the modelling agencies who were interested in them.

They were told they had to buy their photographs from the studio in order to join an agency and become an agency model.

Some of them used credit deals arranged by the fraudsters, or expensive payday loans, to make the upfront payment.

In return, the victims got poor-quality photographs that stood no real chance of landing them professional jobs, and most did not get paid modelling work.

Judge David Dixon told Foster, who appeared via videolink from HMP Doncaster, that he was a "coward" for trying to flee justice, while his co-accused had come to court to be sentenced previously.

Foster, Judge Dixon added, "decided to hide, and didn't come and face the music", adding that the conman had bought designer watches and his daughter a Porsche while "living a lifestyle based on the income from this illegal scheme".

Lord Bichard, NTS chairman, said: "Foster's cruel exploits left thousands of victims in serious debt, causing lasting emotional distress and significant financial pressures."

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During the hearing it emerged that Foster's wife had died from cancer, and Foster's son Michael had been murdered around Christmas last year, according to Anthony Barraclough, defending.

Mr Barraclough said: "He has had a great deal going on, of a terrible nature, but he is nevertheless an absconder."

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