IPSWICH: A retired fraud squad detective sergeant has become the fifth man to be charged with an alleged internet escort agency and debt elimination scam said to run into millions of pounds.

Christopher Taylor is due to appear at Ipswich Crown Court next week to enter his plea to the charges after his case was committed there by the town’s magistrates.

The 56-year-old, who runs a debt recovery agency, is facing two counts of conspiracy to defraud over a three-year period and a further charge of money laundering.

Taylor was given unconditional bail at the end of the first hearing of his case.

He is scheduled to appear in crown court next Thursday.

Four other men – including Mark Bell, of Westerfield Road, Westerfield, and Colin Samuels, of The Street, Redgrave – have also been charged with conspiracy to defraud following a lengthy inquiry by Suffolk trading standards officers.

They are due to appear for plea and case management hearings at Ipswich Crown Court the following day.

Taylor is a director of First Debt Recovery Ltd in Wakefield.

The company was established in 2008. Previously Taylor worked for West Yorkshire Police in CID and the force’s fraud squad.

Taylor, of Oxford Road, Wakefield, is said to have worked in the debt recovery market for several years.

Taylor is accused of conspiring with Bell, Samuels, Anthony Muldoon and Bradley Rogers to defraud people after they allegedly provided funds for provision of escort, companion and debt elimination services between July 1, 2007, and November 30, 2010.

He is also charged with money laundering through his company on behalf of Muldoon between November 1, 2008, and June 7, 2010.

Bell, 40, is also accused of four money laundering offences totalling around �3.5m

Samuels, 60, also faces two similar charges involving �371,582.

Muldoon, 65, of Spain, faces conspiracy charges involving between �1.7m and �1.8m

Rogers, 29, a South African national, is also charged with money laundering,

The British authorities are still awaiting the extradition of Geraldine French, 59, from Spain, after she was detained on a European Arrest Warrant in relation to the alleged internet frauds.