A BUSINESSMAN who kept up payments on his luxury BMW while his suppliers went unpaid failed in a challenge to his £40,000 court confiscation bill.

Ian Frederick Woodward, aged 57, of Moorside Road, Tottington, was jailed for two-and-a-half years at Bolton Crown Court in August, 2005, after admitting fraudulent trading.

And in March of the following year, he was hit with a £40,000 confiscation order by a Crown Court judge, stripping him of his every asset.

Last week, he challenged the decision at the Court of Appeal in London, but had his case rejected by two top judges, Mr Justice Foskett and Judge Peter Beaumont QC.

Woodward was prosecuted after running a window fitting company between October, 2000, and July, 2001, without ever being in a position to discharge debts.

Cheques regularly bounced and, when credit ran out, he simply moved on to other companies to obtain cash to keep the business running, Judge Beaumont said.

While the debts mounted and suppliers’ invoices went unpaid, a monthly direct debit to a BMW vendor was continued, showing he was more prepared to pay for luxury items than to pay his debts, the judge said.

Woodward argued that the confiscation order should be overturned due to failures in the way he was advised prior to the hearing.

He said important legal terms and their significance had not been properly explained to him by his lawyers, resulting in him agreeing to the £40,000 order.

But his arguments were rejected.