Fraudster's mansion to be sold
A convicted fraudster's £1.8 million country home in the West Midlands that was ravaged in a suspected arson attack will be rebuilt and sold, it has emerged.
The palatial five-bedroom home on Chester Road, Aldridge, was left in ruins following the huge blaze, with police estimating £400,000 of damage. The Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) had confiscated the property, and another in the palatial grounds, under the Proceeds of Crime Act because they alleged it had been bought from ill-gotten gains.
The arson attack came just a week after SOCA released pictures of the site.
But SOCA spokesman Stuart Hadley said the fire would not prevent the sale going ahead.
"The property will be repaired under insurance and sold as normal," he said.
"The proceeds will then be split between SOCA and the treasury, 50-50."
He said that extra security measures had been put in place since the blaze, to prevent any repeat attacks.
The house was previously owned by David 'Nipper' Harris, who was jailed for six years in 1994, aged 44, for being the ringleader in a £35 million mortgage fraud.
Pictures of the home in the days after the attack showed the conservatory doors and windows had been blown out, the roof ripped off and the once bright decor and furnishings replaced by a blackened shell.
A converted barn in the grounds escaped the blaze, along with an artificial football pitch with floodlights.
Police were alerted when a badly-burned man staggered into Bloxwich police station on the night of the fire last April.
