A fraudster who has been on the run for four years has admitted offences worth in excess of £50,000 after he was extradited back from South Africa.

Jevin Mercer-Tod, 39, formerly of Norwich, had managed media campaigns for The Stationery Office (TSO), which provided information management and publishing solutions to the public and private sectors.

In this role he began working with a third party company who provided genuine services to TSO. He was able to convince them to pay a freelancer as part of the project they were working on.

This 'freelancer' was in fact a victim Mercer-Tod had groomed to be his money launderer who would send the money directly to Mercer-Tod's bank account.

In addition to this, Mercer-Tod invoiced TSO for services provided by a company which did not exist.

In total, Mercer-Tod submitted more than 30 fraudulent invoices which totalled more than £50,000.

In February 2013 the third party company raised some questions around the invoicing from TSO. When asked about this, Mercer-Tod resigned and fled the country to South Africa.

In November 2017 Mercer-Tod was arrested and committed to Johannesburg prison ready for extradition.

Last month he arrived back in the UK and was arrested and charged with the fraud offences.

Mercer-Tod appeared at Norwich Crown Court on Friday (February 9) when he pleaded guilty to the offences which happened between 2012 and 2013.

He will be sentenced at Norwich Crown Court on Friday, March 9.

Detective Sergeant Sam Shevlin, who supervised the investigation, said: 'This was a prolonged investigation where Mercer-Tod took advantage of his employer, another company and the hopes and ambitions of a young individual.

'He has evaded capture for four years delaying justice being served and extending the suffering of the people involved.

'I hope today's result shows that we are dedicated and we won't give up when it comes to tracing offenders and bringing them back to face justice.'