Fraudster flees teen sex assault charges
Police have triggered border alerts for a New Zealand man, described as a career fraudster, after he and his partner failed to appear in court in connection with a sexual assault on a teenager.
Paul James Bennett, 45 and his partner Simone Wright, 31, were due to appear in court three weeks ago on charges of indecently assaulting a teenage Auckland girl, Sunday Star Times reported today.
It was reported Bennett had also conned his way into becoming Russell Crowe’s helicopter pilot and once claimed to have worked for the CIA.
The pair are also wanted for questioning on several frauds thought to involve hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Police fear they may have left or may leave the country and border alerts have been set up but they are known to use aliases.
Bennett, born in Morrinsville, has a long history of eluding police, here and abroad.
He once slipped through the fingers of Australian police after putting up a stolen Porsche and helicopter as surety while facing fraud charges, reports say.
He has served jail time in the UK and Australia, where he is still wanted.
In the early 1990s he was at the centre of a High Court case in Britain where he claimed he was kidnapped by police while working undercover as a helicopter pilot for the CIA in South Africa.
In 2003 Sydney police reportedly indicted him on six counts of fraud after he allegedly exaggerated his involvement with Crowe to secure loans of around $100,000. Bennett went to ground and the charges were never heard.
He had been hired as Crowe’s helicopter pilot to fly him between Sydney and his Coffs Harbour estate in New South Wales but was later found to not have a licence, it was reported.
New Zealand police issued a new warrant for Bennett and Wright last month after a complaint that they indecently assaulted an Auckland girl aged between 12 and 16.
Detective John Gilbert would not give any further information about the assault, saying the matter was before the courts.
Bennett first made international headlines in 1991 when he was extradited to the UK from South Africa to face deception charges relating to the purchase of a helicopter.
He claimed South African and British police colluded to kidnap him and that he was working for the CIA.
The intelligence agency had uncovered a British plot to maintain an apartheid government by distributing AK-47 guns among black townships and promoting violence, he told the court.
London’s High Court dismissed Bennett’s story but also the case against him because of irregularities in the extradition procedure.
Anyone with information as to Bennett’s and Wright’s whereabouts to phone (09) 477-5097 or text the confidential tip line on 027 27 27 669.
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