A FORMER boxing champion who turned to loan-sharking has been ordered to pay back almost £25,000 from the proceeds of his crimes.

Neil Pattison was jailed for a year after he admitted making thousands of pounds worth of illegal loans to residents in the Chilton area of County Durham, who were charged 40 per cent interest.

He has been ordered to repay £24,598 over the next six months following a hearing at Durham Crown Court.

Pattison, who was voted North-East junior sportsman of the year in 1981 and represented his country in amateur boxing bouts abroad, was said to have benefitted by more than £42,000 from his criminal activities.

A police investigation initially began as a drugs inquiry, but when officers found £3,700 in cash following a raid at his home in Opel Avenue, Chilton, on December 12, 2008, he revealed it was the interest from loans he had collected from his hard-up clients, along with the sale of tobacco.

Police also searched his car, where they found £2,420 in cash and a knuckle-duster.

Pattison, 48, pleaded guilty to three counts of unlawful money lending, two counts of money laundering and possessing an offensive weapon.

He was jailed for a year in December. A previous court hearing heard there was no evidence of him having used coercion or threats of violence towards those who defaulted on the loans.

Speaking after the recent hearing, John Foreman, a financial investigator with Durham Police, said it should send a message to criminals that if police could not get them one way, there were other ways in which they could, such as proceeds of crime legislation.

He said it was one of a number of successful cases arising from close work with trading standards officials, and added: “Hopefully it will deter would-be loan sharks from preying on vulnerable members of the community by loaning them money for which they demand extortionate rates.”