Conman who lived a lavish lifestyle must pay £1.5-million or go back to jail

A convicted fraudster who lived a lavish lifestyle while avoiding paying back almost £1.5 million of illegal earnings must now hand over the entire sum – or face more jail time.

Eric Fitzpatrick Danison has resided in a luxury mansion, and kept a fleet of flash cars, despite knowing he owed the huge amount under the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) following his release from prison.

He was initially jailed for 11 years after operating under the guise of bogus companies to trick investors into handing over large sums, including claims he could secure flats at a luxurious development in Birmingham, in 2010.

West Midlands Police said they were determined Danison – who now goes by the name Sir Patrick Tristram Bijou – shouldn’t escape paying back the criminal profits he amassed from an international scam he ran over a decade ago.

And last week the economic crime unit, working alongside the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), secured a fresh court order which means he must hand over the outstanding amount in the next three months, or be put back behind bars for another eight-and-a-half years.

Immediately after his sentencing in 2010 police sought to claw back his ill-gotten gains and obtained a confiscation order worth £1.95-million under POCA.

It was established he had over £450,000 available at the time, and the remaining money would have to be paid back when assets were identified in future.

However, following his release from prison the force received information Bijou had relocated to Wales with a new name.

The now 63-year-old was living in £1.2 million house and enquiries revealed he had an account with over £500,000 and several expensive cars such as a Daimler and an Alfa Romeo, all while knowing he owed cash under POCA.

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.

In the meantime police 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 this was approved by a Judge at Birmingham Crown Court on Wednesday (13 April).

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.

What has West Midlands Police said?

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.

“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.”

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