A FRAUDSTER who was jailed for a VAT scam has been ordered to pay back more than £3 million in ill-gotten cash.

Robert Waterman, of Vicarage Lane, Chigwell, is currently serving a six-year prison sentence after his his business, Asset Innovations Ltd, falsely reclaimed £4.7 million in VAT.

The 44-year-old claimed tax rebates on memory sticks he said had been exported to Dubai, using fake invoices and empty parcels posted to a PO box address.

Waterman has now been given three months to repay £3,354,173.68 cash he fraudulently collected from the taxman.

If he does not pay up, he faces another eight years in prison on top of the sentence he was handed at Chelmsford Crown Court last year.

Waterman will now be forced to sell his assets, including a £1 million home, three luxury cars, a property in Ilford and expensive watches in order to repay the cash.

A further £530,000 was also confiscated from him during the investigation.