Fraudster Raymond Woolley, who made £15m in a complex VAT fraud, has had £4m of his assets seized, including the Ashes bar, near his home in Stoke-on-Trent, valued at £270,000.
Customs secured a confiscation order against the former plumber at Birmingham Crown Court yesterday for another £9.5m of assets.
Woolley has meanwhile escaped from prison and is thought to have fled abroad where he is believed to have laundered some of his illegal profits.
References: The Guardian 04/03/05 page 3
