A FRAUDSTER who made more than £70k from his crimes has been forced to compensate the victims with his inheritance.

Patrick Baker, the former Poole Tourism boss, pressured two people into sending him a total of £72,493 between 2014 and 2015.

One of the victims, who was a childhood friend of Baker’s wife, had £52,493 stolen after being repeatedly hounded to send money.

Baker told her he was waiting for a ‘big deal’ to come off, but in the meantime could not pay his mortgage and bills, putting his family home at risk.

The other victim, who is now in her 90s, was a former colleague of Baker. She was told similar lies and transferred £20k to him, which he never returned.

Baker, now 68, was found guilty in 2019 at Bournemouth Crown Court of two counts of fraud. He was sentenced to four years in prison.

A confiscation order was only made for £1,000 due to a lack of funds he had available at the time.

In March 2023, Dorset Police became aware that Baker had received inheritance and referred the case to the SWROCU’s Asset Confiscation Enforcement (ACE) team, which specialises in revisiting cases where offenders have not paid back the money they made through their crimes.

Both victims were able to get their money back in full from Baker's inheritance. 

SWROCU ACE team manger Amanda Alldridge said: “It was brilliant work by Dorset Police to identify the fact he had come into this inheritance.

"We were keen to take the case on and ensure the money he received went to the victims he stole from, not to him.

“Both women were delighted to get their money back after all this time, though it has clearly been a long and stressful period for them.”

On receiving the compensation, the victim who had £52,493 stolen said: “I'm incredibly grateful for all the hard work and persistence of all teams involved.

"I never in my wildest dreams expected to get my money back. I never thought that I would see it again…and that is all down to your teams, thank you so much.

“I'm not sure if I am going to do anything special with the compensation, but it makes me feel more secure as I get older.”

Detective constable Declan Cummings of Dorset Police’s Economic Crime Unit, who carried out the original investigation that saw Baker convicted of the crimes, said: “We remain committed to relentlessly pursuing criminals to ensure they do not profit from their offending and victims are properly compensated.

"As highlighted by this case, we will work to ensure the Proceeds of Crime Act is applied when new assets become available long after the crime has taken place.”

Baker was living in Blandford at the time of his offending, but now lives in Newton Abbot in Devon.

He was head of Poole Tourism during the mid-1980s, during which time the industry was estimated to be worth £70million a year to the town.

He previously received a suspended sentence in 2017 after pleading guilty to fraud by abuse of position and fraudulent evasion of VAT.