A Polish native living in East Lancs has lost a lengthy extradition battle with a court in his home country over a £165,000 fraud conviction.

Law chiefs in Poland wanted Sebastian Klos, who has been resident in Accrington and Blackburn since 2012, to return to Eastern Europe and serve a four-year jail term.

Klos was convicted at the Regional Court in Warsaw of 12 offences of fraud and one of using a forged bank guarantee.

His victims were defrauded out of sums ranging from 6,000 Polish Zlotys (£1,150) to 240,000 Zlotys (£46,000), chiefly through misleading loan agreements, which were never repaid.

One offence related to disposing of property via a fake car dealership.

Klos had been the subject of an arrest warrant since the 2018 conviction.

The High Court in London was told Klos did not attend his initial trial but was present for part of an appeal process. His attorney was in attendance when the court judgement was handed down.

The King's Bench Division hearing was told Klos and his family came to the UK in June 2012, initially renting a flat in Accrington before staying in York Street, Blackburn. He did return to Poland as part of the fraud proceedings though.

Rebecca Hill, counsel for Klos, appealing against an extradition ruling, said her client had enjoyed a settled life in the UK since 2012 and had been employed throughout.

She told the court he had not offended in this county and had no previous convictions other than the fraud case in question.

Ms Hill also outlined the adverse impact his extradition, for offences which dated back from August 2009 to September 2011, would have on his wife and three daughters.

Klos had also been subject to 'restrictive bail conditions' since the extradition proceedings began in January 2022.

Alexander dos Santos, for the CPS Extradition Unit, said it was in the public interest people convicted of crimes should serve their sentences and the UK should honour treaty obligations with other countries.

He told the court Klos remained a fugitive and had been convicted of 13 dishonesty offences over two years and had been given a substantial prison sentence, which remained to be served in full.

Mrs Justice Heather Williams said she only gave limited weight to the age of the offences as Klos had been aware of the investigation into his offending since 2012 and did not provide details of his whereabouts to the Polish authorities until 2015.

The judge added: "He was aware of the proceedings in Poland, frequently returning to attend hearings. He knew of the sentence that had been imposed and applied (unsuccessfully) to defer it."

His wife Iwoan had undergone surgery on a tumour, which turned out to be benign, the court heard.

And Mrs Justice Williams said: "I accept the appellant has taken a primary role in caring for his children in recent times and that they will miss him very much if he is extradited."

But the judge, dismissing Klos' appeal, added: "While I accept there will be a substantial adverse impact on the family if the appellant is extradited, this does not go significantly beyond the usual consequences of extradition and I do not consider that the consequences of interference with family life will be exceptionally severe."