Conman who made fortune from fake bomb detectors ordered to pay back £8 million

A conman who sold fake bomb detectors to war-torn countries has been ordered to pay back nearly £8 million.

James McCormick, who lives in Langport, Somerset, funded a luxury lifestyle by selling useless devices to customers in Iraq, Niger and Bahrain.

Following an Old Bailey trial in 2013, he was jailed for 10 years after being found guilty of three counts of fraud.

A court heard his assets total nearly £8 million, included £4 million from the sale of a house in The Circus in Bath; an £88,000 parking spot and a luxury villa in Cyprus.

In the Old Bailey, Judge Richard Hone QC also ordered compensation be paid to McCormick's former clients in Bahrain, the United Nations forces in Lebanon, Niger, Iraq and Georgia.

McCormick was ordered to hand over the funds or face a further 10 years in jail.

The earlier trial heard how McCormick made millions from selling three models, based on a novelty £13 golf ball finder, to Iraq and other countries. The prosecution said there was no scientific basis to the detectors and they were nothing more than a con.

Jailing him, Judge Hone had told the fraudster he had blood on his hands as a result of his "callous confidence trick".

Outside court, Detective Inspector Ed Heath, of Avon and Somerset Police, said he was pleased with the judgement.