Britain's most-wanted woman laundered £1billion in cash and has spent the last eight years on the run.

Sarah Panitzke, 47, is the only woman on the National Crime Agency (NCA) most-wanted list, and has been for the last six years.

Originally from Barcelona but brought up in Yorkshire, Panitzke was part of a criminal gang that was notorious for its high-value frauds.

Along with 18 others, Panitzke was part of a group of companies that bought cheap mobile phones in overseas countries without VAT, then sold them in the UK for a big profit.

The National Crime Agency said: "She controlled the company accounts of many companies remotely via different IP addresses. Panitzke travelled extensively to further the fraud to places including Dubai, Spain and Andorra. She was responsible for laundering approximately £1billion."

In August 2013 Panitzke was ordered to repay over £2.4million for her part in the fraud or go to prison, after an investigation by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) led to a court case.

But she was sentenced to eight years in prison in her absence, as she went on the run in May 2013, before the trial began.

The crime group got prison time totalling 135 years, and were ordered to repay more than £111million in criminal profits made from the mobile phone VAT fraud.

Kingston Crown Court, where Panitzke was sentenced

At one point the gang sold more mobile phones in the UK than all legitimate mobile phone shops put together, lawyer Abbas Lakha told Vice.

Lakha, who represented one of the gang during the trial, said: "At one stage there were more mobile phones being purchased and exported by a single crime syndicate in the space of a month than actually bought or sold in the country as a whole.”

After the trial, HMRC assistant director Kevin Newe said: "Confiscation orders totalling more than £114million have now been made in this case, and these latest rulings show that criminals may think they can escape justice by fleeing the country, but our investigations to reclaim their ill-gotten gains continue.

"We are determined that crime gangs such as this one, should be prosecuted and then made to repay their criminal profits.”

Panitzke got an eight-year sentence at Kingston Crown Court - but was already on the run

Panitzke was highly competitive even as a teenager, according to James Brooks, who met her in York decades ago.

Speaking to Vice, Brooks, 47, said: "In netball and hockey, she was an attacker. A good team player, but competitive – she wanted to win.

“We were adrenaline junkies. We’d go high diving off rock areas along the coast. She’d be encouraging me to do dives and I’d say, ‘I don’t think it’s the right move,’ but she had no fear at all.”

The NCA believes she is hiding in Spain, and has urged British holidaymakers to look out for her.

Panitzke is described as being 170cm tall and has a slim build with straight hair. She also has blue eyes and a Yorkshire accent.