Sitting in the shade of a eucalyptus tree at a poolside bar in northern Cyprus, Gary Robb sweats profusely. “When you’re on the run from the law you have to make sacrifices,” he says, as he wipes the perspiration from his brow with his forearm. “One of them is living on this beautiful island in this amazing weather. I bet it’s not 40C in England. Fat chance.”

He laughs raucously, eyeing his Cockney mate, Trev, who joins in the merriment, realising that it is expedient to show his approval of the joke.

For 11 years the 45-year-old former nightclub owner, accused of running a drug racket in England, has been the island’s most famous fugitive. His swagger and northeast accent are well known in the neon-lit bars and restaurants offering British beer and English breakfasts that litter the coastal strip near Kyrenia.

Robb, from Teesside, likes nothing more than gloating about his freedom in a region recognised only by Turkey and so immune to European extradition warrants.

“I have set up a new life here. The people are lovely and the Turkish Cypriot community is fantastic. My mother moved out here and two of my four kids were born here. It’s a great place to bring up children. There’s no crime and none of the stabbings that you get in England.”

Robb, who admits he is “no angel”, had used violence himself during his 16-year career running nightclubs.

His business empire collapsed in 1995 when more than 200 police in riot gear raided his Colosseum club in Stockton-on-Tees and discovered a stash of Ecstasy and amphetamines. Robb and his brother, James, were charged with supplying drugs.

By the time that the police had prepared their case and a trial date been set, Robb had laid his final plans to escape.

“I got a pal to drive me down to Leeds airport and I flew to Spain. Then I went to northern Cyprus. I had already got my passport back from the police. It was easy.”

Had he stayed he might have met with the same fate as his brother, who was jailed for 12 years.

Instead, Robb set up a new business building holiday homes in northern Cyprus, territory deemed occupied after Turkey invaded in 1974. His investment in the country, and because his building project in the Amaranta valley has hit problems, may have made the Turkish Cypriots reluctant to fly him back to England to face justice. As the Greek and Turkish Cypriots prepare to discuss unification next month, Robb insists that the prospect of extradition reaching his region does not perturb him.

“I have no concerns if there’s a political settlement and unification,” he said. “It will take time before an extradition treaty is set up. Anyway, the police don’t have any evidence.

“I could be out of this island in 15 minutes. I’ve been over to the Greek side. It’s easy. I’ve been smuggled in the boot of a car over the UN checkpoint.”

However, going south of the UN buffer zone would be ill advised, now that the Greeks have declared that they too want him — for building on land belonging to their citizens who fled in the Turkish invasion.

“If the CPS gives me a trial date I will return to England,” he adds, disclosing a chink in his armour.

As he heads to his dusty car he pauses to take a mobile telephone call from a friend who had just been cleared of murder in a British court. “Well done, mate, that’s great news,” he says, before driving to his fortified villa in the hills overlooking the Mediterranean.

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