£12m could be seized from 'thug'

John Gizzi is serving a five-and-a-half year jail term

Police hope to recover up to £12m from a millionaire builder who was jailed for assaults on the homeless.

John Gizzi, from St Asaph, whom police called a "thug" and "bully" preying on the weak, was jailed in January.

Gizzi, 34, who admitted charges including grievous bodily harm, beat up two homeless men with wooden staves.

North Wales chief constable Richard Brunstrom said recovering the millions from Gizzi would "make a big difference to the crime scene" in the region.

Presenting his annual report to the North Wales Police Authority, Mr Brunstrom said the assets of the criminal had been valued at between £10m and £12m.

He lived in a £1.75m house and drove a £100,000 Bentley in which a listening device was installed to catch him.

I have to concede that we might have paid more attention to Mr Gizzi earlier than we did Richard Brunstrom

The builder also admitted conspiracy to sell contraband cigarettes and customs and excise tax evasion worth up to £750,000 and 22 offences of mortgage fraud totalling £1.4m were taken into consideration.

Earlier this week a date next December was fixed for a hearing into the claim for the seizure of Gizzi's assets.

"We're hoping to relieve him of all of it," said Mr Brunstrom.

Asked at the annual meeting of the police authority how Gizzi - who attacked vulnerable people in the Rhyl area - had been allowed to operate for so long, Mr Brunstrom agreed it was too long, and said it was "high time he got his comeuppance".

"I have to concede that we might have paid more attention to Mr Gizzi earlier than we did."

Gizzi's accomplice, Dennis Fontenot, is also in prison

But Mr Brunstrom said the quality of the lengthy police investigation was reflected in the fact that Gizzi had pleaded guilty to all the charges.

Before he was sentenced in January, Chester Crown Court heard details of Gizzi's assault on a homeless man, at a boarded-up cafe in Rhyl.

Simon Medland, prosecuting, describing how the man was sleeping in the cafe - owned by Gizzi - when he was woken by the criminal

"He recalls being woken up by what he describes as a blow to his head," Mr Medland told the court.

"He could see that Mr Gizzi had a weapon. Mr Gizzi was under no conceivable threat from Mr Owen. The assault went on for quite a while."

Gizzi's co-accused Dennis Fontenot, 32, from Liverpool, was jailed for 18 months after pleading guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent and conspiracy to sell counterfeit cigarettes.