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BRITAIN’S most wanted woman has been captured and thrown in a Spanish prison after nearly a decade on the run.

Sarah Panitzke, 47, had been a fugitive since she was convicted in 2013 of laundering up to £1billion for a VAT fraud group.

Panitzke was the only woman on National Crime Agency’s Most Wanted List
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Panitzke was the only woman on National Crime Agency’s Most Wanted ListCredit: Solarpix
Sarah Panitzke was arrested after nearly ten years on the run
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Sarah Panitzke was arrested after nearly ten years on the runCredit: Solarpix
Panitzke, 47, is now languishing in a Spanish jail
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Panitzke, 47, is now languishing in a Spanish jailCredit: Solarpix
The 47-year-old was reportedly caught on Sunday as she walked her dog
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The 47-year-old was reportedly caught on Sunday as she walked her dogCredit: Solarpix

Panitzke was included on the list of Britain’s most wanted fugitives after absconding in May 2013 before the end of her trial as a senior member of a crime group involved in VAT fraud.

The privately-educated fraudster was sentenced in her absence to eight years behind bars in August 2013.

She was said to have “disappeared into thin air” after becoming the only woman on the National Crime Agency’s Most Wanted List.

Brit holidaymakers were asked to help catch the convicted scammer from Fulford near York in a recent appeal for information on the whereabouts of fugitive killers, sex attackers and drug traffickers.

Last night she was said to be languishing in a prison near Madrid ahead of her expected extradition back to the UK.

Sources said she had been held on Sunday as she walked her dog near her home in Catalonia.

The arrest was carried out by the Civil Guard Central Operative Unit’s Fugitive Task Force.

One insider said: “Panitze was out walking her dog when she was arrested.”

Initial reports said the woman had been held in the town of Vilanova i la Geltru in Catalonia, although police are expected to confirm later that she was arrested in a village in the Catalan province of Tarragona.

According to El Confidencial, which broke the news of Sunday’s arrest on Monday, she was fighting her forced return to the UK.

Two UK customs officials asked to attend her extradition hearing the outlet reported.

There has not yet been any official comment from the Civil Guard.

The Madrid-based judge who ordered her remand in prison while she fights her forced return to the UK has been named Joaquin Gadea.

LIFE OF PRIVILEGE

Panitzke, who went to York College for Girls before moving on to prestigious St Peter’s School, came from a wealthy family.

Her dad Leo was a residential property developer and insurance broker but was arrested when she was 19 for buying council houses and selling them early for a large profit and was subsequently sentenced to four years in prison.

She studied Spanish at Manchester Metropolitan University before doing a master’s degree in Barcelona in Business Management.

Sarah was recruited into notorious tax criminal Geoffrey Johnson’s web of 18 fraudsters located throughout the UK after meeting an acquaintance.

Panitzke was part of a group of companies that bought cheap mobile phones in overseas countries without VAT, then sold them in the UK for a big profit.

Operation Vaulter, the codename given to HMRC’s investigation into the fraud gang, led to a trial at Kingston Crown Court.

Sarah was handed an eight-year sentence after pleading not guilty. The gang’s 18 members received sentences totalling 135 years.

She disappeared before the trial had finished.

At the time she was said to have been living in the coastal town with two dogs and a long-term partner and doing “front jobs” as a hotel worker and property investor.

Recent reports said she would face 17 years’ incarceration if caught because her non-payment of a £2.4million confiscation order meant further time had been added to her prison sentence.

Her brother Leon told Vice magazine last year: “The whole saga had been incredibly difficult for everyone involved.”

Police described her in their wanted appeal as: “170cm tall, slim build with mousey straight hair, blue eyes and a Yorkshire accent."

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The NCA had said in an earlier appeal: "She controlled the company accounts of many companies remotely via different IP addresses.

"Panitzke travelled extensively to further the fraud to places including Dubai, Spain and Andorra. She was responsible for laundering approximately one billion pounds."

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