Convicted fraudster's £500k bill

Fuller-Love was sentenced to three years and nine months in 2007

A businessman jailed after being found guilty of fraud and stealing £135,000 of EU money has been ordered to pay almost £500,000 by a judge.

Donald Fuller-Love, of Llangwyryfon, Aberystwyth, was sentenced to three years and nine months in April 2007 for fraudulent trading and theft.

A financial probe revealed Fuller-Love, 57, has assets worth £499,788.

The judge at Swansea Crown Court said he must pay the money back to the state or face up to four more years in jail.

During his trial in April 2007, Fuller-Love was convicted of four counts of running boat building companies fraudulently and one of stealing the £135,000 grant from the European Union.

Judge Eleri Rees ruled he had made £1,456,862 by running the four companies fraudulently.

At a proceeds of crime hearing at Swansea Crown Court on Monday, the court heard his assets included:

• A £215,000 boatyard
• Factory premises worth £150,000
• A half share in a boat known as the Ellen Louise
• Cash in a building society
• £47,000 which had disappeared without proper explanation

Fuller-Love must pay £12,760 by 1 April, 2009, a further £150,000 by 1 October, 2009, and the balance by 1 April, 2010.

The amount outstanding during that period will grow by 8% a year.

Large debts

Fuller-Love set up a boat building company in Borth, Ceredigion in 1993.

He subsequently ran successive businesses into the ground between 1996 and 2004, incurring large debts and defrauding his creditors.

The court heard how Fuller-Love ran four companies into the ground and continued trading when it was "blindingly obvious" he would not be able to pay his debts.

All of Fuller-Love's firms, starting with Steel Kits Ltd, manufactured boats in kit form at his Borth yard.

As soon as one firm closed down, he opened another but left the debts behind.

He also stole a £135,000 EU grant which should have been passed on to researchers, including University College Newport, but he refused to hand it over.

The EU grant was made to pay for the development of a laser-guided metal cutting system which Fuller-Love would have used to produce boats at his boat yard.

After his conviction last year, the court was told the Department of Trade and Industry would target his property assets for confiscation and the judge granted time to prepare a case.

Fuller-Love is expected to be released from jail in either December 2008 or April of next year, the court heard.