Fraudster who paid back JUST £1 of the £800k he pocketed gets comeuppance 10 years on

In 2004, Hardip Malhi – aged 25 at the time - conned a number of firms by ordering goods from them, never paying for the items and then selling them on. He was convicted of conspiracy to defraud in 2006 and sentenced to 12 months in prison.

Shortly after, it was determined his benefit from his crime was £803,831 but because he had no known assets, he was given a nominal confiscation order under the Proceeds Of Crime Act (POCA) of £1.

Following a review of all previous confiscation orders, Detective Constable Arran Fox from the force's Economic Crime Unit re-opened Malhi's case and discovered over the years, Malhi had been paying off his mortgage and his house had increased in value, resulting in equity of £108,010.

On July 3 Det Con Fox took Malhi, now of Woodland Drive, Rocester, Staffordshire, but formerly of Tipton at the time of the crime, back to Birmingham Crown Court, which deemed Malhi should have this amount confiscated and he was ordered to pay back the full amount within three months or go back to prison for five years.

Det Con Fox said: "POCA debts don't get written off and stay with the person until they are paid.

"While Malhi has served his sentence, he still owes hundreds of thousands of pounds to those he defrauded and it would be wrong for him to prosper while others remain out of pocket from his actions.

"As this case shows, crime really doesn't pay and it doesn't matter how long ago you committed the offence: if you benefited financially from it then and we suspect you now have the means to pay, then we will come after you."

The Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) allows officers to recover money and assets gained by offenders through their criminal activity after they have been sentenced at court.

If it is proved their assets came from criminal activities, they are given a certain length of time to pay back the money, or face a longer stint in jail while still owing the money.

This money is then invested back into the community, assisting local projects and initiatives.