Police track Australian runaway

Simone Wright in Sydney.

Police looking into more claims from ripped-off Kiwis.

Fresh claims have been made against a woman wanted by police who left the country with her fugitive husband.

But police say moves to extradite Simone Wright, 39, from Australia are still some way off.

Wright left New Zealand earlier this year with partner Paul Bennett allegedly on board a stolen yacht. The pair had been wanted by police to answer charges of sexual assault.

Bennett is also wanted over alleged fraud, including a complaint from a Queenstown man that he was defrauded to the tune of $250,000.

Bennett was arrested by Australian police on historical fraud charges — related to alleged offences from when he was Russell Crowe's personal helicopter pilot — after the damaged yacht limped into Sydney Harbour in February.

He is due to stand trial on the Australian charges in February next year.

But Wright, an Australian citizen, was allowed to walk free and has been living with her mother in a central coast suburb north of Sydney.

Christchurch police Detective Mark Kolmer said officers were now reviewing fresh complaints from other New Zealanders who alleged they had been defrauded by the couple.

"We have had complaints come to the forefront that hadn't been raised before through the fact that they [Wright and Bennett] were always in the news," he said.

Detectives had recently travelled across the Tasman to interview Wright, who is still wanted for an alleged sex assault on a teenager in 2008.

There were no restrictions on her movements in Australia, where she had been seen by neighbours coming and going from her mother's house.

Although police wanted to see her face charges in New Zealand there were strict procedures they had to follow, Kolmer said.

"It's still a very active inquiry with the New Zealand Police and hopefully we'll come to a successful conclusion at some point in time in regards to a prosecution."

He was unable to give a date when she might return to New Zealand. But it was likely Bennett, a New Zealand citizen, would face immediate deportation once the Australian legal system had dealt with him.