A PROFESSIONAL gambler nicknamed "The Pencil Man" for a betting scam which included defrauding an East Lancashire bookmakers, has been arrested after more than a month on the run.

Conman John Bailey, 32, brazenly wrote to a judge in January saying he would not be turning up for sentencing on four counts of fraud at Grimsby Crown Court.

But last night, the fraudster, whose passport had already been seized by the court, was arrested in his home town of Liverpool and hauled back to the East Coast, where he was remanded in custody to await sentencing in the next four weeks.

He got his name from the technique of pencilling winning bets on to already stamped slips.

In 1995 he targeted Bradlow's Bookmakers -- now Stanley Racing -- in High Street, Rishton.

Bailey claimed about £5,000 from staff in Rishton, but his trail of deception came to an end when he turned up for the rest of his cash and found a police sergeant waiting instead.