Puppet Master: Son makes heartbreaking plea to mother who fled with conman

The 25-year-old broke down in tears as he opened up about his mother's relationship with Robert Hendy-Freegard.

The two children of Sandra Clifton, whose story was told on Netflix's Puppet Master: Hunting the Ultimate Conman, have issued a heartbreaking plea to their mother, begging her to come home. The true crime series tells the story of how Sandra met Robert Hendy-Freegard - a man who "controlled, conned and fleeced at least seven women and one man, stealing close to one million pounds". He targeted multiple people over the years, pretending to be an MI5 agent and alienated his victims from their families by convincing them they were being pursued by the IRA. Sandra first met Robert on a dating site in 2011, following his release from prison. She quickly began to "distance herself" from her family before leaving one day with no notice, never to return. Occasionally Sandra will contacts her children - Jake and Sophie - but she has never revealed her current location to them. Speaking on Good Morning Britain, the siblings revealed they have not seen their mother for eight years. "I just feel she’s been so manipulated and can’t make her own decisions and I would love to see her again and I would love her to see the real truth," Jake said. "When we were young, we were just living our life with our mum and she did everything for us. We were very close," Sophie added. "She worked hard, she always did everything for us and was extremely devoted to us and no one can ever question that which makes everything that’s happening now so out of character." The pair also revealed that they initially did not want to partake in a Netflix documentary, but had agreed as they believed it could help them reach their mother. Addressing the camera during the interview, a tearful Jake made a plea for his mother to come home.

"I just want to say that we both love you, we miss you and we want you back in our lives," he said.

After breaking down, Jake was consoled by his sister, before going on to say that he does not even have his mother's mobile number and believes he only hears from her when she has permission from Robert to call. "He’s made a scenario where she can only choose him over everyone else," Jake claimed. "We just want her to be able to love other people as well."