A FORMER Port Edward man who was known as Gary George Pyatt when he skipped bail while facing drug possession charges in December 2011, might well be the British fugitive now wanted by the law.
The man police are seeking, now known as Brandon William Pyatt, has reportedly been spotted on the South Coast.
Gary Pyatt, who was employed by the Country Lodge near Southbroom for a short spell, was living in Port Edward when he was arrested on June 26 2009, for cultivating dagga at his house. Police found 425 seedlings in containers in his yard. He skipped bail and disappeared, only to be nabbed by the police in 2012 when he was arrested in Howick and convicted of possessing an unlicensed firearm. He was given a three-year sentence.
Since then, the man known as Gary Pyatt has slipped beneath the radar. However, the photograph of Brandon William Pyatt, illustrating a Witness article, ‘Fresh Sightings of Elusive UK Conman’, is identical to the South Coast Herald’s photograph of the former Port Edward dagga cultivator Gary Pyatt.
Brandon Pyatt is described in the Witness as a suspected serial fraudster who could be linked to a string of criminal cases, locally and abroad.
“Pyatt is understood to have gained notoriety in the late nineties, when he took on Manchester United Football Club and began to market a range of French wines and brandy bearing the likeness of legendary Man U forward, Eric Cantona,” the article states.
He is apparently wanted in connection with offences that include theft, deception and fraud, as well as a recent vehicle theft. Police are investigating two reports of sightings of the fugitive in Port Edward.
