Fraudster in bid to keep £20m

Martin Evans had properties in Marbella and Miami

A convicted drug dealer and fraudster has begun a legal battle to hang on to his estimated £20m fortune.

Former award-winning businessman Martin Evans, 44, from Swansea, is serving 21 years for running millions of pounds worth of drugs into Britain.

His barrister said Evans had not been given the chance to argue that he had not made anything out of his crimes.

A judge is expected to make his ruling on the consfication of Evans' assets at Swansea Crown Court on Thursday.

Evans, from Pontardulais, was once an award winning businessman running a successful double glazing firm in Port Talbot.

Offshore accounts

But the business collapsed and he turned to fraud, cheating investors in an ostrich farm he established at Dunvant, Swansea.

He set up an ostrich breeding business in 1995 but it collapsed, leaving investors with nothing.

More than 100 investors put a total of nearly £900,000 into the ostrich scheme after he promised annual profits of 70%.

Much of the money was channelled into offshore accounts in Jersey and the Bahamas.

He admitted theft, fraudulent trading and acting as a director while bankrupt.

Evans' barrister Huw Davies QC argued on Wednesday that Judge John Diehl, who sentenced Evans for conspiracy to import cocaine and ecstasy, should disqualify himself from deciding how much should be confiscated and the extra sentence to be served if payment was not forthcoming.

Mr Davies told Swansea Crown Court that Judge Diehl "could be perceived to have shown bias" .

He told the hearing that the judge, during his sentencing remarks, appeared to determine Evans had benefited financially from drug-running.

Evans did buy some ostriches for the farm

That opened the door to a police investigation to find his assets, which included a £2m villa in Marbella and properties in Miami, Florida.

Mr Davies, who said £20m was at stake, added that Evans had not been given the opportunity to first argue that he had not in fact made anything out of his crimes.

Gregg Taylor QC, prosecuting, argued that Judge Diehl was entitled to determine Evans had made a profit on the evidence he had heard during the trial.

Days before his trial, Evans went on the run, first to Spain and then to Holland where he masterminded a multimillion-pound drugs and money laundering operation.

Mr Taylor said Evans was caught when he tried to use a false passport under the name of Paul Kelly to enter the US in November 2001.

Heightened security following 11 September 2001 led to his passport being detected.

He was flown back to Paris and arrested and eventually extradited to the UK where he was sentenced to 24 years after a trial in Swansea Crown Court.

That sentence was reduced on appeal to 21 years.

Judge Diehl is expected to announce his ruling on the assets on Thursday morning.

If Evans is successful, his defence team is expected to argue that all confiscation proceedings should be dropped.