THE partner of a fugitive fisherman who fled abroad on the eve of his sex trial told a court he absconded because he had no faith in the justice system.

Christine Officer claimed twice convicted sex offender Frank Burgon had been harassed by police and falsely arrested three times.

But Ms Officer, 63, who is accused of being part of a conspiracy to help Burgon remain abroad, denied the pair thought of themselves as “above the law”.

She said: “I always said to him (Burgon) ‘you must never run away as it will look bad on you’.”

Ms Officer, who, along with Burgon, his brother George and George’s daughter Alison Connor is on trial at Teesside Crown Court, admitted she had used her grandson’s mobile phone to speak to Burgon and give him her bank details so he could deposit the proceeds from the sale of a yacht.

Prosecutor Paul Newcombe questioned why Ms Officer had not told police she was in touch with the fugitive.

He said: “This was you disguising the trail.” Ms Officerreplied: “There was no trail.”

The defendant, of Bruntoft Avenue, Hartlepool, was also asked why she almost immediately spent the yacht proceeds on £15,000 worth of premium bonds in her own name and withdrew the remaining £4,000.

She claimed this was to get a return on the money, while some of the cash was also spent on Christmas presents and a loan for her daughter.

Ms Officer claimed she had no idea Burgon had gone abroad and did not know he was in Gran Canaria – where he was arrested by Spanish police in December 2013 – until she was contacted by his brother.

Burgon, 79, from Hartlepool, now of Borough Road, Middlesbrough, was due to face a trial at Teesside Crown Court in March 2013 over allegations he sexually abused a young girl in the 1980s.

But after fleeing the country he spent several months abroad. He was eventually returned to the UK and in June 2014 he admitted three indecent assault charges, breaching his bail and failing to comply with sex offender notification requirements and was jailed for just under four years.

The Crown’s case is that Ms Officer, 77-year-old George Burgon and 52-year-old Ms Connor, both of Dalton Piercy, Hartlepool, provided cash and assistance to Burgon in order that he could remain a fugitive.

They deny perverting the course of justice and the trial continues.