RUNAWAY rapist Trevor Masters is still cheating the British legal system more than 18 months after he was arrested in France.

Lengthy extradition procedures mean Masters (pictured), who is in custody in France after being refused bail, has still not been brought back to Britain to serve his 12-year jail sentence, after going on the run more than two years ago.

As the Cardiff crown court jury were returning their verdicts on a series of sexual attacks, including rape and indecent assaults against women and children in August 2000, Masters jumped bail.

He went on the run for ten months, sparking an international manhunt, before he was caught in a cyber cafe in Pau, south-west France.

The 49-year-old former garage owner from Blaenavon had been convicted in his absence of one count of rape, three indecent assaults, one count of actual bodily harm and two attempted serious sexual assaults.

The Argus exclusively revealed that the night before he went on the run, he threw a farewell party for friends and family.

Detective Inspector Mike Jones, of Gwent Police, who is fighting to bring him back to justice said yesterday he was "extremely frustrated" that the French authorities have still not signed his extradition papers.

A spokesman for the French government said Masters had appealed against his extradition and they had been waiting for a hearing to be held at the counseil d'etat which they believe should take place at the end of this month or at the beginning of next month.

The counseil d'etat is a high administrative and judicial assembly, charged with preparing laws and decrees. It is also the highest court for appeals against extradition. Masters has claimed he is innocent and that his trial was a sham. Detective Inspector Jones, who was instrumental in tracking Masters down, said: "It is extremely frustrating, not only for ourselves but also for the victims in the case who must want to put this behind them.

"I complied with all the relevant time limits and the papers went through the Home Office to France."

One of sex attacker Trevor Masters' victims told the Argus on the anniversary of his arrest last June that she still has flashbacks and terrible nightmares about the horrific ordeal he put her through.

Nicola Green, 29, who was indecently assaulted by him as a young girl and who waived her right to anonymity, said: "What he did to me is really fresh in my mind and I still have flashbacks and terrible nightmares today."