THE fugitive wife and daughter accused of helping a penniless conman to fraudulently buy the lavish home of a former Prime Minister have been warned: "You will be arrested if you set foot on these shores."

William Davenport's wife Ann Davenport and daughter Meaghan Smith played a major role in the £3m con that saw them secure Grade II listed Windlestone Hall, County Durham, the childhood home of Sir Anthony Eden, a court was told.

The mum and daughter fled the UK for the United States, where both have citizenship, in December 2014, a month after William Davenport was arrested and are understood now to be running a horse riding stables in the southern states.

Durham Police have been frustrated in their attempts to arrest the pair because it is notoriously difficult to secure US extradition warrants for people who are American citizens.

However a police source said: "We are still looking at the extradition process, even though it is tricky. But one thing is certain - if they ever set foot on these shores again they will be arrested."

A month after they fled UK jurisdiction, Meaghan Smith tried to change her identity details with the DVLA and it can now be revealed that she played a key role in Davenport's fraud by laundering money for him.

Davenport was jailed for six years on Wednesday after Teesside Crown Court heard he convinced Durham County Council to sell him the 30 bedroom mansion by claiming to be a Beverley Hills-based tycoon earning £430,000 a year.

It was a ruse he could never have pulled off without the assistance of his daughter.

Meaghan set up a company called Veneretech, based in Wilmslow, Cheshire, a firm which she was the sole director of.

After securing the legal title for the hall Davenport was given a £25,000 grant by Durham County Council to fix the dilapidated mansion's plumbing and heating.

In order to get a mortgage from Barclay's bank, Davenport said he was head of European operations for Veneretech - but in fact the supposed software firm was just a front for the fraud.

Meaghan's company was paid the £25,000 grant by her father, which she then paid back into his account every month to make it look as though he was earning a huge salary and fool the bank.

Prosecutor Joanne Kidd said: "It is the Crown's case that throughout the marriage Ann and her daughter Meaghan Smith have been complicit in the financial dealings orchestrated by the defendant and have also used a variety of names and sought official identification to support their identity.

"Evidence would suggest they went to the US. It can also be inferred that further attempts have been made by Meaghan to obscure there whereabouts and identity by virtue of an application to the DVLA on January 2nd 2015.

"Had Davenport and Meaghan Smith remained in this jurisdiction, they would have faced charges jointly with this defendant."

William and Ann Davenport married in Honolulu, Hawaii, in 2002 - and even the details they gave on their marriage certificate were false.

The pair moved around society circles in the UK leaving a trail of dodgy deals in their wake.

They bought the lease to Egerton stud farm in Newmarket in 2002, only to vanish six month later when a bankruptcy petition was filed.

In September 2004 they bought Middleton Hall in Midlothian, Scotland, passing themselves off as wealthy American. Four years later the couple disappeared leaving debts to the bank of £93,513.