After fleeing to Spain while on trial for money laundering, a fraudster became the UK’s most wanted woman. She was sentenced to eight years in prison.
Sarah Panitzke, 48, of York, fled in 2013 while on trial for her role in a £1 billion mobile phone tax fraud.
She had been on the run for nine years before being apprehended in February while dog walking in Santa Barbara, Tarragona.
Panitzke appeared in London’s Kingston Crown Court after being deported back to the United Kingdom.
She was first charged in 2010 with conspiracy to obtain illicit property in connection with her role in a multimillion-pound VAT fraud, and she was found guilty in her absence in 2013.
Panitzke was sentenced to eight years in prison in her absence, which the judge, Sarah Plaschkes QC, stated should begin as soon as she appears in court on Friday. “That sentence will begin today now that you have been extradited to this country,” the judge told the court, reiterating the sentence handed down in 2013.
Panitzke, who was involved in a money laundering conspiracy involving offshore accounts, was informed she would have to serve at least four years in prison before becoming eligible for parole.
In 2016, she was also hit with a £2.4 million confiscation order.
She was given three months to pay the full amount or face a nine-year prison sentence.
No money has ever been paid against this, hence the total sum owed, including interest, is £3.4 million as of May 2022.
Interest is still accruing at a rate of £538 each day.
Pantizke had been on the National Crime Agency’s most wanted list for a decade, and her arrest was the product of “years of hard effort,” according to international deputy director Tom Dowdall.
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“Panitzke thought she had put herself out of HMRC’s reach,” said Simon York, director of the HMRC fraud investigation service. “However, through our work with UK law enforcement and international partners, we have tracked down another tax fugitive.”
Panitzke played a “critical role” in the crime, according to HMRC, and laundered “exceptional volumes” of stolen money through offshore bank accounts.
According to them, Panitzke and her 17 co-conspirators were sentenced to a total of 135 years in prison for the fraud.
