Ostrich conman told to pay £4.8m

Martin Evans must reveal where his last £1m is stashed

An ostrich farm fraudster turned international drugs dealer must pay back £4.8m by 2008 or serve another eight years in jail, a judge has said.

Martin Evans, 44, from Pontardulais, is serving 21 years for a criminal career that netted him up to £37m.

Judge Michael Burr insisted Evans must reveal a final, but missing, £1m or still serve the extra sentence in full.

Swansea Crown Court heard the confiscation order would "extinguish" Evans' criminal earnings.

Once an award-winning businessman running a successful double glazing firm in Port Talbot, Evans turned to fraud when the firm collapsed.

He set up an ostrich farm at Dunvant, Swansea, in 1995, and swindled 87 investors of nearly £900,000 by promising annual profits of 70%.

Days before his trial for that fraud, he went on the run to Spain and Holland where he masterminded a drugs and money laundering operation, shipping at least £3m of ecstasy and cocaine into Britain.

Evans was caught at New York's JFK airport posing as Paul Kelly

He was caught trying to enter the US in November 2001 where heightened security following the 9/11 attacks found he was using a false passport.

He was extradited to the UK and sentenced to 24 years in jail, reduced to 21 years on appeal.

A team comprising South Wales Police, the National Crime Squad and the Crown Prosecution Service negotiated with Evans' legal representatives over the criminal assets seizure.

Gregg Taylor, for the prosecution, told Swansea Crown Court the investigation had identified a property in Swansea, a £2m villa in Marbella and bank accounts in Latvia, Antigua, Switzerland, Dominica and the UK.

Evans was ordered to pay £4.8m by June 2008 or serve the additional eight years in jail.

Ostrich farm

Judge Burr put the onus on Evans to find the final £1m of that figure, which the crown was satisfied was still unaccounted for.

The confiscation figure will see £771,875 paid to the 87 ostrich farm investors and further £86,000 go to legal professionals who were never paid.

Richard Jones, a financial investigator with South Wales Police, said after the hearing: "We are determined to take the profit out of crime.

"The fact that we have spent 10 years on this case shows the lengths we will go to recover the profits of crime."