Disgraced solicitor ordered to repay half the £1.4 million he stole from clients

David Vaughan Jones, 79, of Leighton, Welshpool, was put behind bars for six years in May last year after being convicted of numerous fraud crimes.

He admitted a total of 24 fraud and theft charges between 1994 and 2015, but had been given a chance by a judge to pay back what he owed. However, he never paid a penny and was jailed.

The amount involved was £1,495,000 although one victim had obtained £98,384 following civil proceedings.

Following his sentence Jones was made subject to an application by the Dyfed-Powys Police Financial Crime Team for the recovery of all known assets held by him in order to compensate his victims as much as possible under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

At a hearing this week at Mold Crown Court Judge Niclas Parry heard that Jones’ criminal benefit was £1,861,211.74 and that he had available assets of £704,292.16.

He ordered the figure be recouped from the sale of Jones’ home and his car plus the funds in his bank accounts which were all seized by the crime team.

In addition he is required to sell his shareholding in a local business or face a further 42 months in prison in default should he fail to achieve an acceptable value for the shares.

The £704,292.16 is to be distributed amongst the 14 victims pro-rata to take account of their individual losses.

Paul Callard, Financial Crime Team lead, said: “The actions of David Vaughan Jones caused considerable misery to a lot of people.

"We will use all legislation available to us to recover money and assets obtained by criminals to ensure that crime doesn’t pay.”

The court previously heard how Jones, once regarded as a pillar of the community, persuaded people to invest in off-shore accounts to generate a higher rate of interest than in the UK.

He was struck off as a lawyer before describing himself as a financial adviser, tax consultant and accountant – although he has no such qualifications.

But his downfall came when it was revealed that the founder member of the Evangelical Church, in Newtown, conned friends and churchgoers.

Jones had insisted that he had the means to repay and had travelled to the Channel Islands five times in an effort to resolve the matter.