Back to jail: Carl Johnson returned to prison after failing to pay back thousands of pounds of criminal cash

The 53-year-old was sent to prison for 452 days by magistrates over the outstanding £44,305 debt. He had been summonsed to appear in court a week earlier but didn't attend. Magistrates issued an arrest warrant without bail on that occasion.

He agreed to surrender himself to the next sitting of the weekly Proceeds of Crime default court.

When he appeared at Birmingham Magistrates Court yesterday he was given the ultimatum of either paying all the money owed or going to prison – he went to jail.

He and his brother Tony, aged 54, were each jailed for two years nine months in July 2012 for money laundering cash from a £34 million tax fraud. The mastermind of the scam paid the pair around £2.4m for their help, it was said.

They both later faced Proceeds of Crime proceedings aimed at stopping villains making money from breaking the law.

Carl was decided to have benefited from the tax fraud to the tune of £1,536,067.00 though it was agreed that the amount which was actually available for him to repay was £118,925.

His assets were said to be tied up in two properties worth around £83,900, sporting memorabilia expected to fetch more than £4,100, a £9,000 diamond ring and 'tainted gifts' – money or possessions given to others – totalling around £18,000.

The total reduced to £71,550 when a sale of the sporting memorabilia failed to raise as much as had been expected.

By yesterday Carl had only paid £30,029 of the money ordered by the court.

His brother Tony was not involved in the proceedings because he has met his financial responsibilities. He benefited by £918,359.51 from the tax scam and was ordered to repay £220,216.58 of this.

After pocketing the multi million pound payment for their role in the tax fraud the pair kitted out their homes with top security equipment with Carl reportedly having bulletproof glass installed in his home on Bushbury Road, Fallings Park. Tony rebuilt his house on Sandy Lane, Tettenhall.

Det Sgt Derek Tinsley, from the Regional Asset Recovery Team commented: "Carl Johnson might be happy to simply forget about how much money he owes the tax payer and try to pretend the order isn't hanging over him – but we and the CPS are not prepared to let this go.

"Confiscation and forfeiture orders strike right at the heart of the motivation for organised crime – money. Carl is paying for his crimes once again with yet more jail."