A FRAUDSTER who sold his Cypriot holiday home to his in-laws and “a man in the pub” for half its value has been told to find the rest of the cash – or face returning to jail.

Initially, Eamonn Burns claimed he couldn't get an estate agent to sell the flat because he didn't know where the apartment was or even have a key for the property.

And he also said a LinkedIn profile describing him as 'marketing manager' for website Paphos News was a trap to catch people telling new employers about his past.

But after a judge at Swindon Crown Court twice warned him his evidence under oath could land him in even more trouble the 34-year-old dropped his challenge to an attempt by the authorities to claw back the stolen cash under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Burns, formerly of Webbs Wood, Peatmoor, was jailed for 18 months in 2016 after he admitted stealing £70,000 worth of cash and stock from Swindon's Wickes store. He funnelled the stolen cash into his Cyprus apartment.

He was then ordered to repay the money under the Proceeds of Crime Act, with the second home in the Med his main asset, or face a two year jail term.

However, he said he could not employ an estate agent on the sunshine island because he couldn't tell them where to go as he did not have its address.

Swindon Advertiser:

Burns claimed he did not have the deeds and, after getting out on home detention curfew after less than six months inside, he was initially banned from going abroad.

Giving evidence, he said: "I believe the keys were under a mat at the property, but I did not know where the property was.

"When I went to view the property I was taken there in the estate agent's car. They didn't have proper street names in Cyprus."

Judge Jason Taylor QC asked: "You spent £70,000 at the exchange rate then for a house and you essentially didn't know where it was?" Burns replied: "Yes.”

He then said his in-laws and the owners of their local were prepared to pay just £35,000 for the flat, even though he claimed to not know its address.

He said a LinkedIn page, which described him as a marketing manager at invented website “Paphos News”, was set up “to mislead people so they would not be making a row to get me fired”. He built the Paphos News website to lend it credibility.

Swindon Advertiser:

After Judge Taylor twice told Burns’ lawyer she needed to have a conference with her client about what he was saying, the man’s challenge to the Proceeds of Crime Act order was dropped.

The judge told him: "Mr Burns, you nearly got yourself in a whole heap more trouble, you nearly did. I am not impressed by your evidence at all."

Burns is next due to appear at an enforcement court in Somerset later in the month, which could activate all or part of a two year jail sentence his he does not pay the outstanding £35,540.

Burns moved with his family back to Neath, south Wales, after he was released from prison. He now works as a decorator with his father.

Reacting to the case Wiltshire Police financial investigator Maria Delapp said: "This result demonstrates our commitment to ensure that crime is not profitable.

"It also highlights that any person who benefits from criminality in Wiltshire must expect every effort will be made to ensure that they do not benefit. Crime simply does not pay."