Fraudster who targeted father-in-law and charity shop boss to repay £1 from ill-gotten gains

But Jody Oliver, 45, who grew up in Knighton and was a former special police officer in Hay-on-Wye, will only have to pay back £1.

At a proceeds of crime application (POCA) hearing held at Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court on Friday, Recorder Aidan Eardley ordered Oliver, who refused to attend, to hand over that £1 within three months or face an extra day in prison.

Prosecuting, Mr Jim Davis said it was accepted that there could only be a nominal order amount of £1 in this case.

In May at Cardiff Crown Court, Oliver was ordered to hand over £350 in a separate POCA hearing.

He was jailed for six years and two months in August for two sets of offences which took place between 2016 and 2019.

Some of these matters were committed while he was on a two-year suspended prison sentence order after he defrauded HM Revenue and Customs.

When he appeared in August, he was still serving a six-year sentence for a £320,000 cruise ship fraud committed between February 2018 and January 2019, and his prison release date was set back from August 2025 until 2026.

His latest offences included taking £105,000 from his father-in-law, de-frauding an 86-year-old woman a male victim, and a charity shop manager.

Oliver used some of the money gained through his crimes to live a double life, cheating on his wife through having a gay relationship, marrying a man and he also lost £136,000 gambling.

Judge Jeremy Jenkins called Oliver a “devious and thoroughly dishonest character who will stop at nothing to defraud others” in August.

Oliver gained notoriety in 2004 after conning former world champion rally driver Colin McRae into believing Coca-Cola was offering him a £3m sponsorship deal.