An MP’s brother has been ordered to pay back £200,000 he stole from clients through his work as a financial adviser or face another two-and-a-half years behind bars.

Martin Pearson, brother of Dudley South MP Ian Pearson, is serving a four-and-a-half year jail term after he was convicted of conning seven victims out of a total of more than £650,000. A Proceeds of Crime hearing held to claw back cash ruled Martin Pearson, aged 48, of Sandy Lane, Tettenhall, Wolverhampton, must pay a six-figure sum in six months.

If he fails to repay the full amount, his sentence will be extended.

Pearson told the court he had squandered every penny of his ill-gotten gains on a gambling addiction but Judge Nicholas Webb dismissed his claims and branded his evidence “unreliable”.

Wolverhampton Crown Court, sitting at The Waterfront in Brierley Hill, heard that Pearson had stolen a total of £659,944.90 over four years. He created huge insurance policies and stashed the cash in a savings account. Judge Webb said records provided by two bookmakers, Steve Lilley and Ladbrokes, suggested that Pearson had gambled around £360,000 at their branches between July 2004 and May 2008.

Pearson said in evidence he had used “hundreds of betting shops all over the country” but Judge Webb said he believed that the Steve Lilley and Ladbrokes branches were his “major outlets”.

He added: “In fairness to the defendant, I will add a further £100,000 for gambling losses at other places.

“I find he has gambled £460,000 which leaves some £200,000 unaccounted for.”

Pearson told the court all the cash he stole had gone into, and out of, two accounts. However, police found only £585,000 had been paid into those accounts in the four years of Pearson’s offending.

No order was made for the seizure of his home, should he fail to pay in six months.

As he was led from the dock to resume his prison term, Pearson gazed at his wife Doreen in the public gallery. A tearful Mrs Pearson, who is confined to a wheelchair with rheumatoid arthritis, pledged to stand by her husband.