A FUGITIVE sex offender at the centre of an alleged conspiracy to keep him out of the clutches of UK authorities said his partner wasn’t best pleased when he told her he had bought a yacht abroad.

Frank Burgon told his trial at Teesside Crown Court that he paid £27,500 for the yacht, named Lady Calypso after travelling to Turkey.

Asked by prosecutor Paul Newcombe what his partner Christine Officer thought of him buying a yacht, Burgon said: “I won’t say the words, she was not very happy.”

Mr Newcombe said: “This gave you the means to travel from place to place while you were outside the UK.”

The defendant said it did, while adding that he had been a fisherman all his life.

Burgon, 79, originally from Hartlepool, but now of Borough Road, Middlesbrough, twice fled abroad after being quizzed and bailed by detectives investigating sex offences against a young girl.

After being arrested by Spanish police in Gran Canaria and returned to the UK, he was sentenced in June 2014 to just under four years jail after admitting three indecent assault charges, breaching his bail and failing to comply with sex offender notification requirements.

Burgon, denies perverting the course of justice along with his partner Ms Officer, of Bruntoft Avenue, Hartlepool, 77-year-old brother George and George’s 52-year-old daughter Alison Connor, both of Dalton Piercy, near Hartlepool.

The Crown’s case is that all four conspired together to keep Burgon outside of the jurisdiction of UK authorities so he could avoid a trial and provided him with cash and assistance.

The defendant was quizzed about a letter he had written to 63-year-old Ms Officer from a jail in Madrid, which is said to have included references to money.

Burgon said: “I cannot remember anyone sending me any money. I had my own money before I left for Gran Canaria.”

However Mr Newcombe said: “You are saying that to cover for your partner because you know she is charged with helping you to stay abroad as a fugitive by sending you money.”

The defendant denied lying about his intention to come back to the UK after claiming he had trouble getting a flight, but was accused of “insulting” the jury and “peppering his account with lies”.

The prosecution say Ms Officer concealed a laptop from police containing searches about passport controls and electronic tags and had proceeds from the sale of the yacht paid into her account.

George Burgon is also said to have collected his brother from Gran Canaria airport and taken him to a rented apartment “hideaway”.

The trial continues.