Derek Bond and his wife Audrey were looking forward to their trip to South Africa, planning to tour of the country’s vineyards, to visit some of the most famous battle sites of the Boer war and to enjoy a little winter sun.
As their plane touched down at Cape Town, the Atlantic on one side, Table Mountain on the other, they could hardly wait to walk out of the airport into the warm morning air.
But minutes after the jet landed, it all started to go dreadfully wrong. Police officers singled out Mr Bond, a 72-year-old retired civil engineer and noted charity worker from Bristol, and took him aside. Some questions needed answering.
Interpol had relayed a request to the South African authorities from the Federal Bureau of Investigation to intercept a conman suspected of being behind a $4,8-million fraud in Texas. Bespectacled Mr Bond seemed to be their man.
By yesterday Bond, a grandfather of six, had spent almost three weeks behind bars in Durban’s main police station, awaiting extradition to the US.
His family claim he is the victim of mistaken identity and fear his identity may have been stolen by the man wanted by the FBI, British-born Derek Lloyd Sykes, who uses the alias Derek Bond and shares the Bristol man’s birthdate.
They are furious that the FBI have still not discovered that they have the wrong man and allege that it was more than two weeks before the bureau even visited Bond in his cell, even though it has an office in South Africa. They also accuse the Foreign Office of not doing enough to intervene.
Yesterday the British High Commission in Pretoria made no secret of its anger at the delay but the FBI remained defiant, claiming that checks were still being carried out.
The extraordinary saga began when the Bonds arrived in South Africa a month ago at the start of a holiday which was due to include a trip to Mauritius. After being stopped at the airport, apparently because his passport number matched the conman’s, Bond was questioned for seven hours but released.
Mr and Mrs Bond tried to put the ordeal behind them and by their second week had made it as far as Babanango, an isolated village deep in KwaZulu-Natal. During the filming of Zulu, Michael Caine used to drink at Stan’s Pub there.
But their holiday was wrecked on February 6 when the police came knocking again. Bond was arrested and taken to Durban for questioning after the FBI persuaded the South Africans he was indeed their suspect.
Apart from a brief return trip for an appearance before magistrates in Babanango, Bond has spent the rest of the time in a hot and cramped cell at Durban central police station.
Declining health
His health has deteriorated. He needs medication for high blood pressure and is suffering from a chest infection. Mrs Bond (70) has been staying in a nearby hotel but has had only limited access to him.
Bond’s daughter, Gillian (46) a geologist, flew to South Africa to help.
”It’s horrible to see your father like that,” she said. ”You get the impression the FBI have taken this action simply because they have found a man in his 70s called Derek Bond. He’s done nothing wrong but has been left to rot in a South African jail. They keep dragging him out of his cell in the middle of the night and treating him like a common criminal.”
Yesterday the FBI would not reveal why it was so sure it had its man.
The FBI is hunting Derek Sykes in connection with a telemarketing deception in Texas in which $4,8-million was stolen. The initial warrant for his arrest was issued in 1999.
A photograph of Sykes, also known as Bond, was circulated among law enforcement authorities around the world last March. It warns that he ”may be dangerous”.
Superficially his description matches that of Bond. Both men have blue eyes and are of average height. Both wear spectacles and have receding hair, though Sykes wears a toupe. Most significantly, they seem to share a birthdate — January 26 1931.
But Derek Bond’s profile is hardly that of an international fraudster. After school he completed his national service and went to technical college, where he studied structural engineering. He was taken on by an up-and-coming firm of engineering consultants in Bristol and was largely responsible for building the company into the respected firm Clarke Bond, where he became senior partner.
As well as his professional success and bringing up his three children, Peter, Richard and Gillian, Bond is an active Rotarian and a past president of the Clifton branch. He retired from work around five years ago and decided to devote more time to his hobbies, which include country pursuits and travelling.
Friends were stunned at his arrest. His best friend of 40 years, Bill Hardyman, said: ”He is a man of great honour. It’s unbelievable that the FBI could have made such a big blunder.”
Keith Nepean, president of the Clifton Rotary Club, said: ”This is ludicrous. He is an extremely honest and nice man.”
Bond hardly tried to hide himself. His address and phone number are listed in the Bristol phone directory and his name even appears on the doorbell of his flat.
Friends and family believe his identity may have been stolen during a trip to America which he has visited at least twice in recent years, including visiting friends in Arizona last year and meeting Mr Hardyman in Florida after visiting Mexico the year before.
During one of the trips he was questioned by immigration officers — though he says he was never sure why — and once had his credit card stolen during a trip to Malaysia.
Identity fraud is one of the fastest-growing cons in the UK. There were 53 000 cases of identity theft reported in 2001 to the UK Credit Industry Fraud Avoidance System.
A House of Lords committee report last year highlighted more than 1 000 cases where passports and other documents had been issued in the names of children who had died before the age of one — similar to the trick famously highlighted by Frederick Forsyth in his novel The Day of the Jackal.
Mr Bond’s son, Peter (45) who works for home developers in Peterborough, said: ”We believe he is the victim of identify fraud where some person in the US has obtained details of his identify including his passport number, and has used them for fraudulent purposes in the US.”
Low morale
Peter, who spoke to his father by phone yesterday, added: ”His morale is very low and he was in tears by the end of our conversation.”
The British High Commission was last night trying to put pressure on the American authorities. Its spokesman, Nick Sheppard, said: ”We are concerned about the amount of time this is taking. We encourage the Americans to resolve this matter as quickly as possible.”
However it did not appear the matter would be resolved speedily.
A representative for the US embassy in Pretoria, DeAngela Burns-Wallace, said: ”We are actively involved in establishing whether Mr Bond is identifiable with Derek Sykes. The name on which the arrest warrant is issued for is Derek Sykes and Derek Bond is one of the aliases.”
Last night a representative for the FBI in Washington said fingerprint and photo identification records were likely to be checked.
But he said the process was likely to take several days: ”It takes time to check a person’s identity.”
He refused to comment on the family’s complaints that it had taken the FBI more than a week before they interviewed Bond.
Another representative added: ”We certainly do have somebody who appears both physically and in age to be the Mr Bond we are looking for.” – Guardian Unlimited Â