Raymond John Weaver, 70, of Ashby-de-la-Zouch, was jailed for 30 months in March 2017 after he failed to declare sales of diggers, excavators and bulldozers to HM Revenue and Customs, allowing him to fraudulently pocket VAT received from his customers.

Weaver was yesterday ordered to repay £990,000 within three months and will now face selling his assets which include a £1.2m home, a villa in Portugal and a collection of cars.

Diccon Wood, Assistant Director, Fraud Investigation Service, HMRC, said: “Weaver made a deliberate decision to not disclose his sales in an attempt to avoid his tax obligations and keep the cash.

“His crimes put him behind bars and now he’ll repay what he stole or spend even more time in prison, and still have to pay the money back.

“Our actions don’t stop once someone is convicted, we will look to reclaim the stolen money.”

Following his arrest in December 2012, the conman acknowledged there was ‘something wrong’ with his paperwork, but denied any wrongdoing.

And in a bid to avoid paying Income Tax in the UK, Weaver had earlier told HMRC that he resided in Portugal.

But enquiries with the Portuguese authorities revealed he paid no tax there, claiming his main residence was in fact Dubai.

Weaver admitted the fraud in February 2017 and was jailed the following month at Leicester Crown Court.

Yesterday, at the same court, he was ordered to repay the money by April or serve more time in prison and still owe the money.