Conman who continued lavish lifestyle after prison term must pay up £1.5m or return to jail

Eric Fitzpatrick Danison, now known as Sir Patrick Tristram Bijou, lives in a luxury mansion in the Welsh countryside and enjoys using a fleet of high-powered cars.

Danison sentenced to 11 years in 2010 for a sophisticated string of frauds including pretending to represent a luxury Birmingham housing fleet.

On his release Danison was able to live on the earnings of his crimes with a current account balance of £500,000.

However, this week the West Midlands Police economic crime unit, working with the Crown Prosecution Service, finally secured a court order demanding the return of his ill-gotten gains.

A judge ruled Danison has to pay nearly £1.5 million in the next three months or be put back behind bars for another eight-and-a-half years.

Two years ago police discovered the 63-year-old was living in £1.2 million house and £500,000 in a bank account and several expensive cars such as a Daimler and an Alfa Romeo.

Bijou, originally from London was in immediate breach of a financial reporting order and was promptly sent back to jail for two years in 2019.

The police have now worked with the CPS to submit an 'uplift' application which would force him to pay the remainder of the confiscation order.

After presenting strong evidence about his available assets the confiscation order was approved by a Judge at Birmingham Crown Court on Wednesday.

His assets have been frozen and he must pay back £1.48m by the summer or he’ll have to serve a further sentence of over eight years.

DCI Alex Pritchard, head of the economic crime unit, said: "It may be over a decade since we secured the initial confiscation order but we never forget in our hunt to stop criminals benefitting from ill-gotten gains.

"Any unpaid sum hangs over a convicted criminal for the rest of their lives, in case further assets are identified. Once it was established Bijou had these we set about working with the CPS on what is known as 'uplift' proceedings, to ensure he paid back the remaining money he owed."

He added: "This is one of the largest, if not the largest amount, we've ever secured this way and shows criminals we'll never let up even years on."