A fugitive known as "The Cat" says she will escape fraud charges after five years on the run.

Fiona Mont, once described as Britain's most wanted woman, believes police have given up chasing her.

Speaking exclusively to The Argus yesterday, she said: "I'm going to continue living my life normally and as far as I'm concerned and as far as the police are concerned it's all over."

Sussex insisted they still wanted to talk to her about a £300,000 computer fraud even though a warrant for her arrest has expired.

Mont, who went on the run across Europe in 1999 after faking her death, said she was working as a barmaid in England under a false name.

The 34-year-old refused to be more specific in case she was tracked down by the press.

Mont said she planned to marry her boyfriend, Graham Hesketh, with whom she skipped bail in a light aircraft five years ago.

She was using the same alias she had used for several years and intended to take Hesketh's name once they were married.

The couple and their two children had been living in England for "quite a long time". When asked if she had visited her home county of Sussex, she replied: "Of course."

Mont, whose mother is ex-East Sussex County Council leader Joan Mott, described her time on the run as a "unique experience" and likened it to going "to hell and back".

She refused to answer why she had fled the country, saying it was "too complicated."

Mont was keen to stress she was not trying to make fun of the police.

She said: "I'm not goading or laughing at them and this is the first time I've spoken to the Press in years and years.

"This is my local paper and I'm talking to The Argus out of respect for everybody."

Mont fled the UK in 1999 after leaving her car on the cliffs of Beachy Head, Eastbourne.

She and Hesketh, 42, spent time in Holland, Belgium, the French Riviera, Germany, Spain, Gibraltar and Portugal, before Mont was arrested in Malaga in January 2002. After spending a month in a Spanish jail she was released on bail and absconded.

Hesketh, who calls himself "The Baron", has spoken of his girlfriend's desire to bring her fugitive lifestyle to an end.

He told The Argus: "She wants a stable future to raise her children. This thing keeps rearing its head and she wants to finish it. It's time to finish."

A Sussex Police spokeswoman said: "There would be nothing stopping us applying for another warrant. We still want to speak to her."