Evil Conman - Coercive Control - The Puppet Master - Robert Hendy-Freegard

[thefourgp]

I watched The Puppet Master documentary on Netflix last night. It’s about British conman Robert Hendy-Freegard (he uses other names) and I keep thinking about it today.

The way outrageous lies will be accepted as truth if they’re gradually fed to you over time. I think if he was American he’d have ended up a cult leader.

I’m absolutely disgusted he’s still getting away with what he’s done. I would have thought with the new coercive control laws in place that they could use these laws to prosecute him and keep him locked up forever, given the huge number of victims he’s had and continues to create. I expect more will come forward now the documentary is out.

I felt so sorry for those poor people and their families. What an evil man. He needs to be stopped.

Stopped from doing what? He doesn't appear to have dine anything illegal since his release from prison, unless i have missed it.

I just finished watching this yesterday. What an absolute shame, just can't believe how many people that he's robbed of years of their life. I was so glad that Sarah was able to get back to her family, I thought her dad was amazing!

It's such a shame for the children who aren't speaking to their mum now though, and haven't seen her for seven years. Do you think he's manipulating her to the same extent, or are they happy and there's more to the story than the children are letting on? I do believe the children, but I wonder if you met the mum without knowing the story, how different her viewpoint would be? Like, does she truly believe her children tried to steal her inheritance?

I was gobsmacked by this documentary. I'd like to say I couldn't be taken in by it but the people who were were all intelligent, articulate people so who knows. Really felt for Sarah and also John who just seemed broken by what he had introduced into his friends lives. Sarahs dad was fantastic and it was very difficult watching him try to hold back the emotion and maintain composure. I really hope the kids get their mum back one day, I'm sure she feels she's with him through choice but I'd be surprised if she wasn't being manipulated in some way.
Its beyond belief that he's able to just continue with his life.

Stopped from using coercive control. Anyone who believes he’s now in a happy/healthy relationship after abusing every single other person he’s ever been with (and having clearly isolated her from every other person in her life who loves her and pressured her into living in another country where she knows no-one) is being very naïve or disingenuous. Abusers follow a pattern. She needs to be rescued and her ex husband seems the only one genuinely trying to do it.

Stopped from committing fraud. Sending invoices to be paid for hundreds/thousands of pounds in relation to pedigree dog grooming fees that weren’t genuine.

I agree Sarah’s dad was amazing. It takes real strength of character to do what he did.

I agree he is unlikely to change, but he can't be stopped fron doing something, unless you have evidence he is doing it!

The problem is that someone who is under the complete control of another due to the brainwashing, will never see anyone else's viewpoint.
They will just see you as interfering or wrong.
You only have to look at cult leaders in the past to see this.
Sadly, you can have as many laws as you like, but coercion will always happen and the victims will always see those trying to help as the enemy.

They did gather evidence to charge him with before and they can do it again. She will initially see those trying to help as interfering/wrong but as with all his other victims in the documentary, they eventually saw him for who he really is. Sarah was under the same delusions and has returned to a normal life with her family.

I agree, but it depends on her level of brainwashed.
Remember, she is with him 24 hours per day and has been for all this time, hence she's not only completely dependent on him, but totally brainwashed too, so she will never see anyone else as being right and him wrong.
Her children, initially brainwashed, once made to leave by their mother, who was clearly acting on orders of him, saw it for what it was.
Sadly for their mother that's unlikely to happen.
Consider that in a short space of time she had gone from a devoted mother with a good family and friends network to alienating everyone and abandoning her children.
The level of coercion there must have been phenomenal to go from one extreme to the other in such a relatively short space of time.
Coercion usually starts with a drip, drip and before you know it, it's a torrent that you have extreme difficulty in stopping.

We watched it a couple of weeks ago. I hadn't heard anything about it when DH suggested it but I ended up hooked and watched it all in one go. At first I was (naively) asking how on earth someone could just leave their life behind, live in hovels for a decade and never question it but it just shows how little I knew about coercive control. I feel so awful for everyone involved - he totally broke the will of his victims until they just did what he said.

I agree that Sarah's dad is brilliant, such a strong, caring person. And the children of his current "partner" - my heart breaks for them.