UK fugitive using false Kiwi ID jailed

Simon Hennessey stabbed an elderly aunt.

Credit-card skimmer exposed as killer nephew

A killer who went on the run for 15 years and stole a disabled Kiwi man's identity for a false passport is back behind bars in the UK.

Briton Simon Hennessey was just 14 when he killed his 72-year-old aunt, Mary Webber, in Plymouth in 1978.

He stabbed her 70 times in a crime that shocked the country.

After 20 years behind bars he walked out of a Gloucestershire prison in 1998 and fled to New Zealand, apparently entering the country on a false UK passport.

In 2013 the Herald on Sunday revealed Hennessey had stolen the identity of Robert Eric Jeffrey to obtain another passport.

Jeffrey, 50, was a severely disabled man after a head-on crash in Hastings. It is not known how Hennessey came to use Jeffrey's identity.

The identity theft was only uncovered after Queensland police arrested Hennessey for card skimming offences in 2013.

Working with a Brisbane accomplice, he posed as a courier driver and charged customers for coffee or courier fees, then copied their bank details to steal money from their accounts.

He also travelled to the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast every three to six months, and it is understood he travelled to Thailand and New Zealand frequently using the false passport.

He was deported from Australia to the UK last week after being convicted and jailed for the credit-card skimming offences. Australian Customs and Border Protection Service confirmed he was deported as soon as he became eligible for parole.

He now uses the name Robert and appeared under that name before the Bristol Crown Court this week. He will serve the rest of his life term for the manslaughter of his aunt.