A North-East conman has been convicted of running an international fraud which netted millions of pounds.

George Steen, 54, was the ringleader of a gang which offered multi-million pound loans to more than 100 clients from around the world between 1996 and 1999.

Steen, from Geneva Road, Darlington, was found guilty of one charge of conspiring to defraud, along with Dennis Alexander and David Andrews, at Southwark Crown Court in London yesterday.

But the flamboyant businessman was not in court to hear the verdict read out as he has been on the run for the last month.

Steen, 54, who had to give up his passport as part of bail conditions, disappeared four months into the trial.

Officers later discovered he had fled to the Philippines on a bogus visa and believe he had thousands of pounds stashed away.

Detectives from the Serious Fraud Office in London have now flown out to Manila and hope to have him back in the country within the next 48 hours.

Alexander, 47, and Andrews, 38, both from East Sussex, were refused bail by Judge Andrew Goymer, who remanded them in custody.

All three are due to be sentenced on Friday.

Another man, Colin Hardy from Redcar, was also allegedly involved in the fraud, but he died last year.

The jury was told that the gang's victims, mainly from Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the US, would fly to the UK to raise capital of up to £25m for business ventures including hotels and golf courses.

Alexander and Andrews, acting as brokers, met clients in the Grand Hotel in Brighton, before introducing them to Steen in the Dorchester Hotel in London's West End.

The unwitting clients paid thousands of pounds in administration fees, then were told to provide a collateral bond worth 40 per cent of the loan value.

When they said they did not have the cash, the conmen told them that they should have read the small print and fled with the money already paid.

All three defendants claimed their clients had the details of the deals explained to them at length.

The investigation into Steen, a former glamour photographer, was the biggest fraud case ever undertaken by Durham Constabulary.