• iconNews
  • videos
  • entertainment
  • Home
  • News
    • UK News
    • US News
    • Australia
    • Ireland
    • World News
    • Weird News
    • Viral News
    • Sport
    • Technology
    • Science
    • True Crime
    • Travel
  • Entertainment
    • Celebrity
    • TV & Film
    • Netflix
    • Music
    • Gaming
    • TikTok
  • LAD Originals
    • Say Maaate to a Mate
    • Daily Ladness
    • Lad Files
    • UOKM8?
    • FreeToBe
    • Extinct
    • Citizen Reef
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
Snapchat
TikTok
YouTube

LAD Entertainment

YouTube

LAD Stories

Submit Your Content
Is The Puppet Master Real?

Home> Entertainment

Published 16:09 27 Jan 2022 GMT

Is The Puppet Master Real?

The series centres around conman Robert Hendy-Freegard, dubbed “The Puppet Master”.

Gabriella Ferlita

Gabriella Ferlita

Netflix-watchers are traumatised after binge-watching the new true-crime documentary The Puppet Master: Hunting the Ultimate Conman. The series centres around conman Robert Hendy-Freegard, dubbed “The Puppet Master”. But is “The Puppet Master” real?

Is the Puppet Master real?

Yes, “The Puppet Master” is indeed based on a true story. Hendy-Freegard, is really thought to be one of the world’s worst fraudsters. 

The fraudulent man in question, Hendy-Freegard, was born on 1st March 1971 in Dronfield, Derbyshire.

Being convicted in 2005, “The Puppet Master” stole nearly £1 million from at least seven women and one man. 

Hendy-Freegard did really work in a pub in Shropshire, England, as well as a car dealership, where he’d meet and trick his victims into believing he was an undercover MI5 agent, part of the Special Branch or Scotland Yard units working against the IRA. 

The fraudster stole thousands and pounds from his victims, fooling them into believing they were being identified by the IRA, and isolating them from their friends and family.

The Scotland Yard and the FBI organised a sting operation and arrested Hendy-Freegard at Heathrow Airport in 2002. 

After an eight-month trial at Blackfriars Crown Court in 2005, the con artist was convicted for two counts of kidnapping, 10 of theft and eight of deception.

Hendy-Freegard was given a life sentence, but this was revoked after an appeal against his kidnapping convictions in 2007, and he was released from prison in 2009.

In 2012, it was reported that a single mother-of-two Sandra Clifton, met a man on a dating app called “David Hendy”, who claimed to work in the media.

The man, “David”, started to become controlling, and tried to alienate and defraud Clifton’s family, forcing her children to move out.

The pair disappeared two years later, but Clifton was found and questioned by police officers in 2015. The woman notified the police that she was aware of “David’s” true identity being Robert Hendy-Freegard, and wanted to stay with him anyway. 

The Times reported to track down the fraudster in recent moments, who was noticed to be entering pedigree dogs into Crufts.

Featured Image Credit: Netflix

Topics: Netflix, TV and Film, Documentaries, True Crime

Gabriella Ferlita
Gabriella Ferlita

Gabriella Ferlita is a full-time journalist at LADbible Group, writing on lifestyle, communities and news across Tyla, LADbible and UNILAD. When she's not writing, she's fussing over her five-year-old Toyger cat, Clarence.

X

@Gabriellaf_17

Choose your content:

9 hours ago
12 hours ago
14 hours ago
16 hours ago
  • 9 hours ago

    Oasis issue critical warning to everyone attending Manchester concerts

    The Gallagher brothers play their first homecoming gig at Heaton Park on Friday night

    Entertainment
  • 12 hours ago

    Every Scrubs actor who has died as reboot confirmed after 15 years

    The show is returning after 15 years, however some actors involved in the show have tragically died

    Entertainment
  • 14 hours ago

    Superman fans make iconic discovery after former actor brands new film 'woke'

    The most woke thing of all: Arguably the most famously American character of all time

    Entertainment
  • 16 hours ago

    Netflix viewers are being left constantly guessing by mystery mini-series you can watch in one sitting

    The Netflix series is a great binge with a bonkers plot twist

    Entertainment