THE leader of a counterfeit Giro ring based at a traveller site has been ordered to pay back nearly £300,000 of his fraudulent fortune. Patrick Maughan's scam, based in Hewish, netted him £536,957 but assets of just £292,704 were seized by police. The 42-

THE leader of a counterfeit Giro ring based at a traveller site has been ordered to pay back nearly £300,000 of his fraudulent fortune.Patrick Maughan's scam, based in Hewish, netted him £536,957 but assets of just £292,704 were seized by police.The 42-year-old, of Moorland Caravan Park, who masterminded the family heist to mass produce counterfeit Giro cheques and birth certificates, kept most of the fortune in a building society account in Ireland.He had another £50,000 in equity bonds in Nationwide Building Society and around £28,000 worth of bonds with Scottish Widows. He also owned two plots of land at the traveller site in Hewish where he kept a three-year-old Toyota Land Cruiser. Judge Paul Darlow ordered Maughan to pay back the £292,704 he had in realisable assets at Bristol Crown Court.His wife, 40-year-old Mary Maughan, had been due to appear with him, however proceedings were dropped when it was heard she was sick with cancer.Patrick Maughan was jailed for four-and-a-half years in July last year after admitting charges of conspiracy to defraud.He ran the scam in 2003 and 2004 with four other members of the Maughan family. They travelled around the country cashing in fake Giros at post offices.The gang was eventually arrested when police raided the traveller site after a joint investigation with the Department for Work and Pensions.