An on-the-run benefits fraudster tracked down and confronted in Spain by Sky News has been arrested by police.
Neighbours claimed they had told British authorities where Norman Brennan was many times, but were ignored.
They said nothing had been done to try to extradite the 70-year-old after he moved into their community.
Brennan, a retired joiner from Merseyside, jumped bail in 2008 after admitting £120,000 of benefit fraud and fled to Mijas on the Costa del Sol.
He has lived there openly at the same address ever since - but was arrested on Tuesday evening.
Sky News Crime Correspondent Martin Brunt confronted Brennan near his Spanish home earlier this month, but he refused to discuss his life on the run.
He appeared to live alone with his dog, spending his evenings drinking in a local bar.
It is believed Brennan was receiving his old age pension in Spain and, astonishingly, even got mail from the DWP in London.
Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith ordered an investigation after Sky News alerted him to the case.
Mr Duncan Smith said he was "astonished" by the case and promised action.
Brennan is now understood to be heading to Madrid, where he is likely to appear in court on Wednesday or Thursday.
"It looks and sounds like he is ready to come back and face the music," said Sky's Martin Brunt.
Members of the UK expat community told Sky News they had reported Brennan to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), Merseyside Police and local Spanish police.
However, none of them appeared to have taken any action.
Crimestoppers also said it had passed on information about Brennan, but to no avail.
The Serious and Organised Crime Agency knew of his whereabouts two years ago but says it was never asked to look for him.
Sefton Council, which prosecuted Brennan, would not say when its investigators learned of his new address, but described the case as "very in-depth and complex".
Merseyside Police meanwhile, said it had been working with other agencies to find and arrest Brennan since 2008.
Brennan's five years in Spain came after he admitted using the name of his brother to claim £120,000 in housing and council tax benefit, Jobseeker's Allowance and pension credits.
When he arrived in the country he and his wife bought two adjoining properties on a complex beside a golf course.
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