A yacht-owning benefits cheat who pocketed £29,000 in housing and council tax payments despite boasting property in France, Wales and the US is facing jail again.

Graham Axford, 60, of Haling Park Road, South Croydon, will be locked up for 14 months unless he repays his criminal profits by October.

The former Liberal Democrat council candidate was jailed for 16 weeks in March 2013 after being found guilty of three counts of benefit fraud by representation following a trial at Croydon Crown Court.

Axford claimed benefits while living in a council flat in Belgrave Road, South Norwood, between 2003 and 2011. 

He failed to tell Croydon Council he owned a house near Newport, Wales, and part-owned a farmhouse, holiday cottage and land in Normandy, France.

He also owned a £25,000 yacht, which he once sailed across the Atlantic. He has since been forced to sell the boat to pay for marina fees. 

Your Local Guardian: Graham Axford appeared on Panorama in November 2011

Axford during his cross-Atlantic sailing voyage

Following Axford's trial, a council investigation found he owned five acres of land in South Carolina.

On Friday a judge granted a confiscation order which means the fraudster must sell his assets to pay £35,166.37 within three months or face a second jail term. 

About £30,000 of that sum, judged to be the value of his assets, will go to the council with the rest split between the court and the Treasury.

Your Local Guardian:

Axford's farmhouse and holiday cottage in France

Councillor Simon Hall, cabinet member for finance and treasury, said: "This has been a long-running case and I’d like to pay tribute to the tenacity of our investigators for bringing this to a positive conclusion.

"It shows that not only will we prosecute benefit cheats, but we will also investigate how much they have gained from their criminal activity, and seek to claim it back."