A fraudster who walked free, temporarily, after he emailed Wandsworth Prison a fake bail order has been sentenced to seven years in prison.

Neil Moore, 28, collected his belongings and walked out of Wandsworth Prison on March 10, of last year, having set up a fake website and sent emails “from the courts service” to fool the prison into thinking he had been granted bail by a judge.

Three days later he changed his mind and was re-arrested after telling his solicitor what he had done.

Moore, originally from Ilford, Essex, had been on remand for multiple frauds in which he conned organisations into giving him more than £1m by posing as bank staff.

At sentencing today, Recorder David Hunt QC said: “Each of those offences is so serious, both individually and in conjunction with the others that only an immediate custodial sentence can justify.

“What matters is the intended loss rather than actual loss.”

Coming on to the escape, he said: "That involved an equally sophisticated and ingenious albeit very different form of fraud."

Detective Inspector Chris Soole, from the Metropolitan Police, said: "Neil Moore was a very intelligent fraudster who didn't hesitate in exploiting banking systems for his own ends."

He said it was a complex investigation due to Moore's numerous aliases and the number of locations targeted around the world.

D Insp Soole added: “I would like to thank our law enforcement partners in both the United States and in Trinidad for answering our requests for information promptly and I hope that this displays the Metropolitan Police's commitment in investigation financial crime and ensuring justice for victims.”

Between February 2012 and November 2013 Moore pretended to be employed by RBS, Lloyds bank and Bank of America, among others, to dupe companies into handing over money.

Moore used his female impersonation skills to trick employees into thinking they were speaking to different callers.

In a note read out by his defence solicitor John Femi-Ola, Moore said he was “pretending to be someone I am not over a life full of glamour”.

He added: “In a way I wanted to feel loved and accepted. During the time of those offences I was extremely depressed.”

He said he considered taking his own life on a number of occasions and Moore’s defence made reference to his difficult past due to his sexual orientation, and his attempts to buy love from others.

Mr Hunt accepted he may have had a troubled early life but said "that can be no excuse" for the crimes. 

Mr Femi-Ola said Moore was left money when his grandfather died, which he spent on partying and a Great Gatsby lifestyle that “intoxicated” him.

He used the frauds to continue his lifestyle, and told Mr Femi-Ola all the money had been spent on partying.

Mr Hunt commented: “That’s an awful lot of money to spend on partying.”

He was first in custody in January 21, 2014, before making his escape less than two months later.

He said he feared for his life after his relationship with his transgender wife had been revealed by prison guards, and Mr Femi-Ola said “he found that he could not tolerate the situation” and made his escape.

He admitted eight counts of fraud and a charge of unlawful escape on March 2.

Moore's wife, Kristen Angel Moore, 27, was originally suspected of being involved in the frauds but the charges against her were dropped.

The pair are in a civil partnership but she has been unable to visit Moore while in prison because of her transgender status.

When Moore was at large, Mr Femi-Ola said he abided by original bail conditions and did not contact Mrs Moore.

Wandsworth is a category B prison, for prisoners who do not need maximum security but for whom escape should be very difficult, saw notorious train robber Ronnie Biggs escape from its cells in 1965.

Moore was sentenced to five-and-a-half years for each of five counts of fraud, and three years for one count of attempted fraud, to run concurrently, plus 18 months for the escape, to be served consecutively for the frauds. 

Moore will serve at least half the sentence, including 15 months spent on remand.