He failed to return to HMP Sudbury after a 'period of release', police said

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A convicted fraudster with distinctive tattoos is on the run after he failed to return to an open prison, police have said. A force has now issued a public appeal for help to trace Robert Salinger.

Salinger, from Failsworth, Oldham, didn't return to HMP Sudbury near Ashbourne in Derbyshire after a 'period of release', police said. He has links to Manchester, Blackpool and Birkenhead and a number of distinctive tattoos.

Derbyshire Police said he has the names 'Elizabeth' on his left forearm, 'Louisa' on his right forearm and the name 'Gemma' tattooed on the top of his back.

Salinger was jailed for four years at Manchester's Minshull Street Crown Court in December 2020 after pleading guilty to five counts of conspiracy to commit fraud and five counts of fraud.

The court heard he targeted plant hire and car tyre firms in an 'organised and sophisticated' £340,000 fraud, using false identities and posing as existing customers to rent industrial plant hire equipment and buy tyres.

He negotiated credit agreements or arranged for payments to be made at later dates, but goods were quickly 'moved elsewhere' after delivery, prosecutors said. The fraud took place over two months from September, 2016.

And Salinger attempted to con an e-cigarette company out of stock worth £48,000 by posing as the 'president/chief executive' of a major UK hotel chain, but the order wasn't processed after bosses became suspicious, the court was told.

In a statement the force said: "We are appealing for information after a convict has failed to return to HMP Sudbury.

"Robert David Salinger did not return after a period of release from the open prison on 29 June. He was convicted at Manchester Crown Court in October 2020 and sentenced to four years' imprisonment.

"He is described as white, of stocky build, and around 5ft 9ins tall with brown eyes and a shaved head. He has tattoos of the names 'Elizabeth' on his left forearm and 'Louisa' on his right forearm. He also has the name 'Gemma' tattooed on the top of his back.

"He has links to the Blackpool, Manchester and Birkenhead areas. Anyone who has seen him or knows of his whereabouts is asked to contact Derbyshire police quoting reference 22*374133."

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