A notorious Suffolk conman has had his house repossessed by bailiffs – with proceeds from the sale earmarked to pay back his dues.

East Anglian Daily Times: The property at Bradfield St George, which is valued in the region of £400,000 Picture: SUFFOLK POLICEThe property at Bradfield St George, which is valued in the region of £400,000 Picture: SUFFOLK POLICE (Image: SUFFOLK POLICE)

David Aves, the 59-year-old serial fraudster, was jailed for four years last week after previously pleading guilty to one count of fraud and 10 counts of dishonestly retaining wrongful credit.

This was the latest in a string of fraud offences committed by Aves in Suffolk stretching back over 30 years.

The Bradfield St George property, valued in the region of £400,000, will be sold under the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) – meaning Aves will be forced to use the proceeds to pay back the money he owes the court. By October of last year this total had risen to over a quarter of a million pounds.

At Aves’ trial, the court heard that his accounts were used to accept payments for transactions for items on Gumtree between October 2015 and April 2016 that were never sent to the buyer.

In total £54,650 was paid into four accounts over a six month period involving 11 victims.

Sentencing Aves, Judge Martyn Levett commented on his long criminal history - which includes 23 convictions for 168 offences.

“There has been a pattern of offending since you were 18 years old,” he said.

“Nothing seems to deter 40 years of dishonest conduct.”

Detective Chief Inspector Martin Peters, of the Cyber & Economic Crime Directorate at Eastern Region Specialist Operations Unit (ERSOU), said: “The work undertaken by ERSOU’s Specialist Financial Investigators in partnership with our colleagues at Suffolk Police, the Crown Prosecution Service and the Courts, has brought about the very satisfying outcome of seizing this property in connection with Proceeds of Crime Act proceedings instigated over 10 years ago and forcing David Aves to finally pay for his lifetime of crime.

“This is the culmination of many years of painstaking and dogged investigation and reflects greatly the efforts across each of the agencies involved to not only ensure that crime does not pay, but to send out a very strong message proving that it does not pay and that your offending can still catch-up with you after a number of years.

“Aves will notice a marked difference after his release from this latest prison sentence, in so much that he will no longer be able to return to the home where he committed many of his offences from, bringing misery to dozens of victims.”