Wanted man located in US but not arrested

(CNS): The director of public prosecutions (DPP) admitted Friday that the police know where to find the former bar manager of Rackham’s, who is wanted on charges of theft, but he has not been taken into custody. In August last year a CNS reader living in the US informed us where Arthur Screaton was and where he was working. That information was passed on to the police, including the name of the town in Colorado and the restaurant where he was working.

The police told CNS that the information supplied had been passed onto Interpol but the court heard Friday that the wanted man has still not been arrested. Screaton (55), who is a Canadian national and was a permanent resident here, absconded from Cayman while on bail after being charged with theft and false accounting. However, the crown told the court that he had been located but was not in custody and the crown was considering whether or not he would be extradited.

The court had scheduled a hearing to deal with the question of a $10,000 surety that had been put up for Screaton’s bail, however the case was adjourned until next month to give the crown time to go through that process.

The judge noted that he believed a number of people would be keen to see the fugitive returned to the Cayman Islands. “I hope that we see him back here shortly,” Justice Charles Quin stated.

Screaton is facing charges relating to the theft of more than $10,000 from the Waterfront bar in George Town when he was the manager in 2010. Having denied the charges in March 2012, he was scheduled to be tried in September. While on bail he was given permission to leave the islands to visit his family in Colorado in the United States but he never returned.