MYSTERY today surrounded the Yorkshire origins of the man who should have been on the FBI's Most Wanted list instead of innocent pensioner Derek Bond.

Derek Lloyd Sykes, who has been arrested in Las Vegas, is alleged to have stolen Mr Bond's identity and used it for up to 15 years to cover his tracks.

The U.S. authorities are reported to have said that Sykes was born in York.

But York register office said it had no record of anyone of that name being born in the city in 1931 or 1932.

And it was reported today that Sykes was in fact born in Halifax in 1930 before emigrating to Canada in 1960.

The alleged conman is now facing trial in Texas for his alleged involvement in a fraud which cost hundreds of vulnerable people their savings.

The racket is said to have involved bogus brokers who fleeced investors in the U.S. in the mid-1900s.

Meanwhile, Mr Bond, a 72-year-old Rotarian from Bristol, who has been released from a South African jail after being mistaken for a dangerous fugitive, today told how President Thabo Mbeki rang to apologise for his ordeal.

Mr Bond gave an emotional press conference on arrival at Heathrow Airport this morning, supported by his wife Audrey.

Dressed in a blue check shirt, blue trousers and a green jumper, he told reporters of his harrowing experience which finally came to an end today.

Updated: 14:54 Friday, February 28, 2003