AN INTERNATIONAL fraudster faces extradition to France after he was tracked down and arrested by North Yorkshire Police.

Joseph Burnside was wanted by French authorities and was subject of a European Arrest Warrant after he was convicted of fraud and criminal conspiracy offences by a French court.

North Yorkshire Police said Burnside, a holiday park owner from Hurworth Moor near Darlington, worked on more than 200 construction projects in France using a range of company names which showed a combined an income of roughly 900,000 euros in one year.

However, the courts deemed the work substandard and said he failed to deliver on some of the projects, which dated from 2005 and 2006, and the 32-year-old was charged with fraud and criminal conspiracy by the French authorities. He failed to appear at court in Rennes and was convicted in his absence, and a warrant was issued for his arrest in June, 2018.

North Yorkshire Police officers tracked down Burnside to the Ryedale area, and specialist patrol officers stopped his vehicle in Helmsley marketplace on Tuesday, where he was arrested and taken into custody.

Paul Somerville, from North Yorkshire Police’s Force Intelligence Bureau, said: "Some criminals think that because we’re a rural county, they can move around undetected and with impunity.

"Nothing could be further from the truth. We use a range of specialised operational and intelligence-based techniques to find wanted people, and we have a strong track record of catching offenders wanted in connection with overseas crimes. We worked closely with French Gendarmerie and other international authorities to locate Burnside and arrest him. It’s reassuring that he will now face the justice he’s tried so hard to evade and his victims in France will get some satisfaction with his forthcoming imprisonment on extradition."

On Wednesday, Burnside was remanded by City of Westminster Magistrates’ Extradition Court, and will attend a full extradition hearing in February.