AUSTRALIAN police have arrested the director of a collapsed North Yorkshire computer company over the alleged fraud of more than £1 million.

Charles Forsyth, 43, was reportedly detained by Western Australian Police as he left church on Sunday, in Boyup Brook, near Perth.

A North Yorkshire Police spokesman today confirmed that Forsyth was arrested at the request of the Serious Fraud Office.

The father of three, formerly of Easingwold, was the head of the collapsed Boroughbridge firm Personal Computer Science Limited.

More than 150 people lost their jobs when the company went into receivership in July 1999. The Serious Fraud Office is now in the process of an attempt to extradite Forsyth for questioning.

A warrant for his arrest and extradition was issued by York Magistrates Court on October 17.

For three days, financial experts and others signed statements at the courthouse in Clifford Street as the country's top fraudbusters started the long legal proceedings that could see Forsyth returned to Britain under police guard.

The warrant accuses Forsyth of company fraud, pirated computer offences, deception involving a $1.5 million credit facility and a £750,000 overdraft, false accounting and lying about his banking qualifications.

The local paper, The West Australian, reported that Forsyth had told his parents he had not done anything wrong, nor stolen money, and now faced returning to Britain to try to clear his name.

It reported that Forsyth's father, Alistair Forsyth, who lives in Boyup Brook, released a statement asking for sympathy and understanding from friends and acquaintances.

He said that following business problems three years ago and the break-up of his marriage, Forsyth has asked to stay with his parents. He had been estranged from them for 17 years. The West Australian also reported that, following his arrest, Forsyth complained of chest pains and spent a night under police guard in Bunbury Regional Health Campus intensive care unit. He was reportedly suffering from high blood pressure.

The newspaper said he appeared briefly before Bunbury Magistrates Court and was remanded in custody to Perth Magistrates Court.

A North Yorkshire Police spokesman said: "Charles Forsyth was arrested on November 3 in Western Australia at the request of the Serious Fraud Squad. "The investigation is being conducted with the co-operation of North Yorkshire Police. The Serious Fraud Office will be seeking his extradition to the UK."

Updated: 11:25 Tuesday, November 05, 2002