TWO men who conned hundreds of people out of thousands of pounds have been ordered to pay back £250,000.

Notorious car dealer Richard Burbage was jailed for six years last June after a jury found him guilty of five counts of fraudulent trading.

He was put behind bars beside another dealer, Stanley Rudgley, who received a prison term of three years and fours months.

Now a judge has ordered they pay back the cash following a hearing at Winchester Crown Court.

Judge Andrew Barnett told the pair yesterday that they had “benefitted to the tune of £800,000”.

Under the Proceeds of Crime Act, Judge Barnett ordered Burbage pay £200,000 within six months, or face an extra 20 months behind bars, while Rudgley was told to pay back £50,000 or face an extra nine months.

The proceedings followed a Daily Echo investigation into complaints from angry ex-customers who were sold faulty cars and denied refunds.

Hampshire Trading Standards then launched a massive probe to bring those responsible to justice after also receiving hundreds of complaints about Burbage and his associate Rudgley.

The investigation originally started in 2013, when Southampton Trading Standards began an inquiry into Woolston Car Supermarket, but was subsequently taken over by the Hampshire arm.

During the case, which lasted more than a month, jurors heard how Burbage, 45, of Poplar Way, Hedge End, removed more than a million miles from the odometers of 17 sample cars which represented a tiny percentage of those involved.

The court heard customers were confronted by “pushy” salesmen who persuaded them they were getting a bargain, but whose “lies and misrepresentations” amounted to fraud.

Jurors were told of four businesses were initially linked to the defendants – Hampshire Vehicle Sales, Woolston Car Supermarket, Service 4 Life and Deltaflag.

Then when the inquiry was handed over to Hampshire Trading Standards, they investigated a fifth firm, Swiftbird, which was formed in 2014.

The jury took three-and-a-half days before returning guilty verdicts on five charges of fraudulent trading which included clocking car mileages, giving false descriptions of vehicles, failing to deliver vehicles, forging vehicle documents, falsifying warranties and failing to give refunds.

Addressing Burbage last year, Judge Barnett said: “There is a great deal of money involved and a great deal of misery for the public.”