'Thanks but no thanks' was effectively the response from a Broughton fugitive - now living in Dubai - when police told him he should return to the UK to face trial.

Ivan Sonko, 40, disappeared before his trial for stalking and attacking his partner at her Broughton home.

He is now living in Dubai, but was today sentenced in his absence and sentenced to 27 months.

Judge's warning

Judge Rhys Rowlands told Mold Crown Court that if Sonko returns to the UK he will be jailed.

Mold Crown Court

But a number of emails between Sonko and the police revealed he has no intention of returning to face justice.

Judge Rhys Rowlands told Mold Crown Court Sonko had politely declined the opportunity to return to the UK to face trial, emailing police saying: “I have no plans to come back to the UK full stop. I have emigrated here permanently.”

The Judge said: “There has effectively told the police ‘thank you for inviting me back, but I’m not coming’.”

Time for closure

But the judge said it was time the victim of the attack got “closure” over the incident, so pressed ahead with sentencing him.

“It’s time for closure.”

He had been convicted of three charges of assault and stalking.

“Should he return to the jurisdiction whether voluntarily or otherwise, he will be taken to prison to start the sentence rather than trouble the court any further,” Judge Rowlands added.

Restraining order

Prosecuting barrister Paulinus Barnes said he would have wanted to apply for a restraining order if the defendant had been present.

The judge said that it was not possible to make one in the circumstances but he added that the chances of him returning were somewhat remote.

If he did return he would be arrested before he could do anything and an application could then be made.

Sonko, previously of Wavertree in Liverpool, was not represented at his trial, which found him guilty of assaulting Sharon Ann Owen back in November 2005, again in June or July 2006 and again in April 2007.

He had denied the charges, as well as a charge of stalking her between October and November 2013 by threatening her, sending her abusive texts, hacking her Facebook account and entering her home address in Cherry Road, Broughton, in the early hours of the morning.