Sarah Panitzke (born 3 March 1974) is a British

criminal In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definiti ...

and

fraudster In law, fraud is intentional deception to deprive a victim of a legal right or to gain from a victim unlawfully or unfairly. Fraud can violate civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud or recover mone ...

who, until 2022, was widely described as "the UK's most wanted woman".

Flight and imprisonment

A former

private school A private school or independent school is a school not administered or funded by the government, unlike a State school, public school. Private schools are schools that are not dependent upon national or local government to finance their fina ...

girl at

St Peter's School, York St Peter's School is a mixed-sex education, co-educational Private schools in the United Kingdom, private boarding and day school (also referred to as a Public school (United Kingdom), public school), in the English City of York, with extensive ...

and from an already-wealthy family, she fled Britain in 2013 while on trial for a £1 billion tax scam, and was for several years the only woman on the

National Crime Agency The National Crime Agency (NCA) is a Law enforcement agency#natlea, national law enforcement agency in the United Kingdom. It is the UK's lead agency against organised crime; Human trafficking, human, Arms trafficking, weapon and Illegal drug t ...

’s list of most-wanted

fugitives A fugitive or runaway is a person who is fleeing from custody, whether it be from jail, a government arrest, government or non-government questioning, vigilante violence, or outraged private individuals. A fugitive from justice, also known ...

. She was found guilty of the tax scam and sentenced to eight years' imprisonment in her absence, and was described as one of Britain's most-wanted tax fugitives. In January 2022, she was tracked down to Santa Barbara in

Tarragona Tarragona (, ; ) is a coastal city and municipality in Catalonia (Spain). It is the capital and largest town of Tarragonès county, the Camp de Tarragona region and the province of Tarragona. Geographically, it is located on the Costa Daurada ar ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, where it was said she had been living a "life of luxury" under a false identity. She was arrested while walking her dog, footage of which was later released. After being extradited back to Britain she began her eight-year sentence and was told she would not be able to apply for

parole Parole, also known as provisional release, supervised release, or being on paper, is a form of early release of a prisoner, prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated ...

for four years (half her sentence), and faced a further nine years of imprisonment for not paying back a £2.4 million confiscation order made in 2016. In March 2023, she was further found guilty of this and sentenced to an additional nine years' imprisonment, meaning she will not be eligible for parole until late 2027. Legally, she was not able to be punished for fleeing the country while on trial, and as of 2023, none of the money has been returned.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Panitzke, Sarah 1974 births 21st-century English criminals Living people People from York People educated at St Peter's School, York English female criminals Fugitives wanted by the United Kingdom June 2022 in the United Kingdom

Flight and imprisonment

See also

References