A NINETY-TWO year-old man is to be repaid more than £67,000 he lost to fraudsters, as part of over a quarter of a million pounds’ worth of paybacks from criminals.

He is one of 16 victims who will be recompensed, after a gang of 12 fraudsters and money launderers convicted last November were ordered to repay almost every penny of their ill-gotten gains.

Their frauds made £256,000 for the scammers in 2011, who targeted elderly residents from Sussex, Surrey, and London telling them that problems with drainage were causing problems for their neighbours.

The victims were then convinced to hand over cash, supposedly to rent machinery to fix the problems, but which actually disappeared into the pockets of the Essex-based crew.

The gang’s five ringleader were sentenced to jail time totalling 25 years last November, with fellow criminals receiving unpaid work orders.

But last week at Lewes Crown Court Judge Charles Kemp ordered them to make repayments to their victims or face additional jail time.

The Economic Crime Unit from Sussex Police were successful in their application under the Proceeds of Crime Act to have Confiscation Orders handed to the criminals.

Including an earlier voluntary payment of £20,000, repayments will total £254,513.65 which represents 99.4% of the total loss of the group of victims.

Each order is enforceable, and defendants will have to serve additional prison sentences of up to two years if they fail to pay - and will still have to pay.

The hearings saw ringleaders James Ward and Wayne Smith ordered to pay £91,500 each from assets that they admitted they held.

Ward, 30, of Twin Willows, Pleshey, Essex, pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to commit fraud and cnspiracy to commit money laundering and was jailed for 11 and a half years.

Smith, 33, of St Vincents Close, Girton, Cambridge, pleaded guilty to fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering and sentenced to eight years.

Other gang members had to repay between £1 and £22,238.65.

The Pulborough man said: "I would like to thank all of the police who have been involved in this case, who have acted with dogged determination throughout, which has now paid off so successfully.

“I really am very grateful to you for helping us through this. Fingers crossed now that they all pay up!"

Detective Constable Fleur Jones, said, “This has been a long and complex investigation, but it is good that POCA has now been used to make criminals pay back what they took, and help redress the damage that these heartless individuals have done to these victims and families lives.”

Other compensation payments to Sussex victims will include £2,000 to a 67 year old man from Crawley, and £2,000 to the family of Crawley woman, now deceased, who was 86 at the time of the offences.