A Folkestone fraudster jailed for selling fake qualification certificates online could be kept locked away for an extra year if he fails to pay back more than £42,000 by September.

Stephen Else, 59, was caught running a forgery business from his home in Jesmond Street that involved him supplying false university certificates and other documents to help customers seeking employment as doctors, teachers and more.

Police officers carried out a search at his home in March 2016 and discovered his living room had been turned into a makeshift office with a row of desks housing computers, printers and paperwork.

Further evidence was found inside his car and a caravan he owned in Capel-le-Ferne.

Investigators from the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate carried out a review of Else’s finances, and at a hearing at Canterbury Crown Court on Thursday (June 21) he was ordered to pay back a total of £42,539 under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

This includes £2,380 cash seized from his home, approximately £28,000 held in a savings account and the sale of a garage valued at £11,500.

Else is currently serving a prison sentence of 12 years and four months after also being convicted of possessing explosives following a trial in July 2017.

He came to the attention of police after ordering a package of expanding ammunition from the internet, which was shipped from America and intercepted by the FBI.

This sparked the search warrant on Else’s home, during which officers became aware of the forgery business while also locating flammable liquids, powders and other chemicals that a Government expert later confirmed could have been used to make a bomb.

Else had already pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud prior to the start of the trial.

If he does not arrange for the £42,539 to be repaid within three months then an extra year will be added to his prison sentence.

Detective Chief Inspector Lee Morton said: "Although Stephen Else is currently serving time in prison, this order made under the Proceeds of Crime Act will ensure that upon his release he will not be able to continue to enjoy the benefits of his fraudulent activities.

"It is clear from the large sum confiscated by the courts that Else was earning a living by supplying false documents to paying customers, sparing little or no concern as to why his customers might have wanted him to forge documents on their behalf.

"Now not only is he behind bars as a result but he has been quite rightly deprived of the money he made from his unacceptable crimes."