A FORMER York policeman and landlord who tried to flee Britain to start a new life was caught at the coast with £6,000 belonging to his creditors, a court heard.

Geoffrey Meehan owed just under £20,000 when police arrested him at Dover with a one-way ticket and a car crammed with a computer and personal belongings, said John Norris, prosecuting for the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) at York Magistrates court.

Meehan was due in court within days on a drink-driving charge and had been declared bankrupt a week earlier. He had also signed a document for the Official Receiver stating that he only had £600 cash to his name. When arrested, police found he had £6,600 cash on him.

"The prosecution say there is little doubt he was intending to leave the country," said Mr Norris.

Meehan, 59, of Aldborough House, Brook Street, York, former landlord of the Castle Howard Ox pub and father of three, pleaded guilty to attempting to leave the country with £6,000 assets belonging to his creditors on January 23, 2002, and failing to disclose financial details on January 16, 2002.

He was conditionally discharged for 18 months and ordered to pay £1,000 prosecution costs. He made no comment as he left court.

Nigel Benson of the DTI said outside court that Meehan was arrested at passport control because a policeman there suspected something was not quite right and started investigating.

In court, Meehan's barrister, Glen Parsons, said that on January 23, 2002, he had been about to start a new life in France.

Though he intended to return for his pending court case, he accepted that it was unlikely that the money would have been brought back to England. The £600 figure in the bankruptcy document had been an oversight or error.

His pub had run into financial difficulties over an extension and he had had to go into bankruptcy despite working 14 to 15 hours a day to try to clear his debts. His wife had left him and he had been drinking heavily.

He had lost his self-respect and his business and financial reputation. He also had health problems, had had to retire early from a job as a postman and now lived on benefits. He had lost his good character when he was convicted of the drink-driving offence in 2002.

The court heard that Meehan will be discharged from bankruptcy next month.

Updated: 10:56 Saturday, December 04, 2004