Fiona Mont
Encyclopedia
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
TV Crimewatch
Crimewatch
Crimewatch is a long-running and high-profile British television programme produced by the BBC, that reconstructs major unsolved crimes with a view to gaining information from the members of the public. The programme is usually broadcast once a month on BBC One...
and ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
, and newspapers printed various accounts of her possible whereabouts during a three-year period. She and Graham Hesketh, her partner in flight, were frequently likened to Bonnie and Clyde
Bonnie and Clyde
Bonnie Elizabeth Parker and Clyde Chestnut Barrow were well-known outlaws, robbers, and criminals who traveled the Central United States with their gang during the Great Depression. Their exploits captured the attention of the American public during the "public enemy era" between 1931 and 1934...
.
Mont always maintained her innocence. Despite the investigative reporting of the UK press, her whereabouts were unknown throughout the entire period. A Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
article, in September 2004, alleged she was living in a caravan near Brighton
Brighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
. Around the same time, the Daily Mail
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
found her working in a pub in Shoreham
Shoreham-by-Sea
Shoreham-by-Sea is a small town, port and seaside resort in West Sussex, England. Shoreham-by-Sea railway station is located less than a mile from the town centre and London Gatwick Airport is away...
.
Early life
Mont is the daughter of Neville Mont, who was an Under Sheriff of Sussex, and Joan Mont, a former Conservative leader of East SussexEast Sussex
East Sussex is a county in South East England. It is bordered by the counties of Kent, Surrey and West Sussex, and to the south by the English Channel.-History:...
County Council
County council
A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries.-United Kingdom:...
.
She attended secondary school at St. Mary's Hall, Brighton and later attended school in Canada where she lived with relatives during 1986. According to media reports, Mont left St. Mary's Hall because she was expelled. However, she has denied this.
Arrest and flight
In September 1999 she was arrested. The officer leading the case was Detective Constable Stephen Skerrett of the Steyning Station of Sussex PoliceSussex Police
Sussex Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing East Sussex, West Sussex and City of Brighton and Hove in southern England. Its head office is in Lewes, Lewes District, East Sussex.-History:...
.
Later, her car was found near Beachy Head
Beachy Head
Beachy Head is a chalk headland on the south coast of England, close to the town of Eastbourne in the county of East Sussex, immediately east of the Seven Sisters. The cliff there is the highest chalk sea cliff in Britain, rising to 162 m above sea level. The peak allows views of the south...
(an infamous suicide spot). The Coast Guard mounted a two-day search operation before Mont's mother eventually admitted to receiving a phone call from her. It was reported that she had fled the country in a light aircraft piloted by Graham Hesketh from Shoreham Airport
Shoreham Airport
- Sussex Police Air Operations Unit :The Sussex Police Air Operations Unit is headquartered at Shoreham Airport. The unit has been equipped since February 2000 with a MD Explorer, registered as "G-SUSX". The unit is headed by a Police Inspector, assisted by a Police Sergeant and two Police...
. She denied the allegations against her via a website.
Mont was featured on BBC television's Crimewatch in 2000 as wanted for questioning in relation to allegations of £300,000 of computer fraud, which she has always denied. She later appeared the same year in an ITV production similar to Crimewatch entitled "Britain's Most Wanted": in this programme, DC Skerrett, also a pilot, flew an aircraft for the reconstruction of events. The following day, the tabloids, particularly The Daily Mail adopted the title of the programme as a nickname for Mont.
Mont and Hesketh settled in Spain and lived in a small caravan. Hesketh worked as a bricklayer and the couple had their first child, Samantha, in 2001. Claims were made in the media that she had set up a website to taunt police and that she had sent emails saying 'Catch me if you can'. She has always denied these allegations.
Capture and escape
The couple remained at large in Spain until January 2002, when Mont was arrested on the Costa del Sol. She was taken to Madrid to await extradition proceedings, but when the Spanish authorities released her on bail, she vanished again.The Guardian reported in 2004 that the couple's son, Benjamin, was born at Worthing hospital in late 2003, and that since Skerrett's departure from the police force much of the interest in closing the file on the fraud has gone.
The case against Mont was eventually dropped - a joint decision by the Police and Crown Prosecution Service, according to a spokesman for the force.
Lawsuits
Graham Hesketh complained to the Press Complaints CommissionPress Complaints Commission
The Press Complaints Commission is a voluntary regulatory body for British printed newspapers and magazines, consisting of representatives of the major publishers. The PCC is funded by the annual levy it charges newspapers and magazines...
about the behaviour of the Sunday Mirror.