A CONVICTED rapist, who police claim went on the run to the Philippines 14 years ago, has appeared in court.

Gary Johnson, formerly of Urmston, Trafford, was tried in October 2005, for the rape and attempted rape of a 31-year-old woman, as well as for perverting the course of justice. However the jury could not reach a verdict and a re-trial was ordered in relation to the rape offences.

Johnson had met his victim at a nightclub in Urmston in March 2004 before he raped her at a flat he owned on he owned on Gloucester Road.

Whilst on bail pending the retrial, Johnson is alleged to have fled the country using a false passport, deliberately absenting himself from the second court trial.

Johnson, now 48, was branded one of Greater Manchester's most wanted fugitives and in 2010 he was traced to the Philippines where he was alleged to be living on Leyte Island with his four children.

Following a successful operation led by Greater Manchester Police, Johnson has now been returned to the UK where he appeared live by video link from HMP Forest Bank at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court on Tuesday having been arrested on a Fail to Appear Arrest Warrant that was issued for his arrest in April 2006.

Johnson, who appeared wearing a surgical mask which he took off to address the court, denied failing to surrender to bail, saying: "I didn't know about the case. I didn't know about the trial date.

"Your Honour, I knew of the first trial, the second trial I was not informed in any way shape or form.

"It was a complete shock when I found out I was convicted."

His Honour Judge Maurice Green said a trial without a jury would now take place on April 3 and remanded Johnson in custody until that date.

As the hearing ended, Johnson told the court he had already spent five years in jail in relation to the case in the Philippines after being arrested in 2015.