A ONE-time Wrexham-based businessman who was jailed for “fencing” stolen goods for a criminal gang has been ordered to pay nearly £107,000 in compensation to his victims.

Mark Bowen,49, of Western Avenue, Whittington, near Oswestry, admitted handling stolen goods and money laundering the proceeds of the gang who targeted Asian gold and jewellery.

The former owner of the Dog 'n’ Bone mobile repair centre in Wrexham established a reputation for selling gold and other jewellery in Birmingham, where dealers remembered him turning up in a yellow Lamborghini sports car.

It was reported he faced financial ruin after he was convicted and sent to prison for 27 months in September 2016.

Sarah Badrawy, for the Crown, told Mold Crown Court that goods seized under a Proceeds of Crime application had been valued at £13,608 and were ready to be sold at an auction house.

Judge Rhys Rowlands made a confiscation order and told Bowen to pay the sum of £106,783.75 within three months or risk another term in prison for defaulting.

Bowen sold on some of the items that were taken by the gang of burglars who targeted homes across the region.

During the police investigation mobile telephones were recovered from some of the burglars which contained a number attributed to him and analysis showed Bowen was in contact with two of them during the conspiracy.

But he said he only handled some of the proceeds of the gang’s crimes and that he did not know the extent of the criminality that was going on.

His involvement was estimated at around £20,000.

When he was sentenced, Judge Niclas Parry told him he had abused his position as a businessman trading in gold to make financial benefit from the known criminality of others.