A British conman who escaped from prison after sending staff a fake email saying he had been granted bail has been jailed for seven years.
Neil Moore, 28, was on remand at Wandsworth Prison in south-west London for fraud offences when he emailed wardens posing as a court clerk manager.
While behind bars he set up a website, using the address and telephone number of the Royal Courts of Justice on the Strand, using an "illicit" mobile phone that was used widely in the prison.
He created a domain name similar to the court service's, emailing the custody mailbox claiming he had been granted bail.
That ensured he was able to walk out of prison on March 10 last year, London's Southwark Crown Court heard.
Moore's escape only became apparent three days later when his solicitors attended HMP Wandsworth for a conference with him and discovered he was gone.
The judge, Recorder David Hunt QC, described the escape as "sophisticated and ingenious".
The court also heard that Moore used up to four aliases to commit the frauds worth a total of STG1,819,000 ($A3.48 million) sometimes putting on a woman's voice to dupe his fraud victims.
Moore admitted eight counts of fraud, and one count of escape from lawful custody, and was jailed for a total of seven years.
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