Formerly one of the UK’s most wanted women, a former public schoolgirl has had her sentence more than doubled for a massive fraud that laundered nearly £1billion.
Sarah Panitzke, 48, was living a life of luxury in Santa Barbara in Spain before she was spotted walking her dogs and recaptured last year after nine years on the run from the taxman.
The organised crime gang member was jailed for eight years for the original offences in June 2022. She and her 16 co-conspirators were handed sentences that totalled more than 135 years.
Panitzke was given another nine years in prison at City of London Magistrates’ Court on Friday for failing to pay the £2,455,913 confiscation order. She still owes the full amount plus interest.
The total amount outstanding, including interest, which continues to accrue at a rate of £538 a day, reached £3,782,779 as of February 2023.
Panitzke (left) was given another nine years in prison at City of London Magistrates’ Court on Friday. She was finally recaptured in Spain in 2022 following nearly a decade on the run
Panitzke was identified as part of an organised crime group responsible for laundering approximately £1 billion from a mobile phone VAT fraud. She and her co-conspirators were originally sentenced to 135 years in total
Panitzke, originally from York, absconded in May 2013 while standing trial for money laundering offences and subsequently featured in National Crime Agency (NCA) most-wanted appeals.
After hiding under a fake identity for nine years, she was arrested by Spanish Guardia Civil while walking her dogs in a village in the region of Tarragona.
Nicol Sheppard, Assistant Director, Fraud Investigation Service at HMRC, said Panitzke’s actions had deprived the UK of vital public money.
He said: ‘Panitzke was part of a criminal gang that stole millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money and deprived our public services of vital funding. She failed to repay the money she stole and now faces even more time behind bars, and still owes the money.
‘Sarah Panitzke played a pivotal role in a sophisticated multi-million-pound fraud and laundered extraordinary volumes of stolen money through offshore bank accounts.
‘The gang she was part of set up numerous businesses claiming to be legitimately importing and selling mobile phones.
The former public school girl previously told Spanish judges that she would prefer to be sentenced there
‘But the businesses were a front for an elaborate scheme to steal more than £20 million in VAT repayments.’
HMRC uncovered a complex web of transactions they used to launder stolen money through bank accounts in the UK, Andorra, Dubai, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Portugal and the US.
The con artist is believed to have led a life of luxury in a gated community in the hills of Vilanova i la Geltrú, an hour from the centre of Barcelona, before justice finally caught up with her.
The fraudster previously told Spanish judges she wanted to be sentenced in Spain because of her links to the country.
She also claimed her husband, who lives in Spain, has just 10 years to live and would not be able to visit her in Britain if she was extradited.
Panitzke was identified as part of an organised crime group responsible for laundering approximately £1 billion from a mobile phone VAT fraud.
During the scam, she was part of a group of companies that bought cheap mobile phones abroad without VAT before selling them into Britain for a big profits.
The others had all been caught, convicted and sentenced, but she remained at large for almost a decade having absconded before the trial had concluded.
Panitzke is said to have grown up in a wealthy family in the village of Escrick, near Selby, North Yorks (when she was arrested last year)
The NCA’s International Deputy Director Tom Dowdall said after her arrest: ‘Sarah Panitzke has been on the run for almost nine years.
‘Given the length of time she might have thought we had stopped searching, but she remained on our radar.
‘Joint working between UK law enforcement and our partners in Spain led to her being apprehended, and we will now seek her extradition back to the UK to serve her prison sentence.
‘This should serve as a warning to others on our most wanted list – we will not rest until you are captured, no matter how long it takes.’
Panitzke is said to have grown up in a wealthy family in the village of Escrick, near Selby, North Yorks.
She went to York College for Girls before moving on to fee-paying St Peter’s School which is the third oldest in the world.
Her father Leo, a residential property developer and insurance broker, was jailed for four years for buying council houses and selling them on early for a large profit.
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