Zahid Khan, 33, who lived in £750k property at Yardley Wood Road in Moseley, fled Birmingham to Dubai after being convicted of a £500,000 number plate fraud.
Khan, whose wife and children still live in Birmingham, fled Britain for Dubai during his trial in the summer of 2018 after being allowed to keep his passport during the proceedings.
Two brothers and a cousin were also jailed for their part in the number plate scam, which targeted £148 million lottery winner Gillian Bayford.
Khan was convicted in his absence of conspiracy to commit fraud, perverting the course of justice, plus concealing and converting criminal property and was jailed for 10 years.
He later posted pictures of himself seemingly in Mumbai on his Facebook page – where he has aimed abuse at legal officials after claiming he did not get a fair trial.
Khan had ran tyre-fitting business in Stratford Road, Sparkhill. He had lived a playboy lifestyle and may have married up to three different women in Muslim ceremonies, as well as having numerous affairs.
He loves drives high-performance cars. His £750k 6-bedroom Yardley Wood Road home in Moseley has a cinema, indoor swimming pool, jacuzzi and steam room and is fitted with CCTV.
But as the case was coming to a close in June the Khan fled the UK after being granted bail by the judge. His passport was not confiscated. He is now a wanted fugitive after being sentenced to ten years for the fraud.
Hours after fleeing the country in June last year, Khan posted a video on his Facebook page to his trial judge saying: “Sorry, I had no choice.”
In the video, Khan claimed he skipped the country as he had not had a fair trial. While directing his comments to Judge Philip Parker, QC, he said: “I am making this video to let you know I am very sorry, I did not want to do what I did, but I felt like I had no other choice.
“Had I stayed in the UK, I was not having no justice and the only safest option I had was to leave this country.”
Detective Constable Rob Piper, from West Midlands Police’s Economic Crime Unit, said police realised Khan may have absconded when he did not turn up for court as the original trial was coming to an end in June.
“We conducted some enquiries and discovered that he had left the country,” he
The officer added: “Khan has an absolutely huge ego and believes he can treat anyone as he wishes.”
Khan had publicly pretended to be a caring and wealthy businessman who donated to the homeless and refugees.
In reality he was a serial criminal who enjoyed fast cars, speedboats, race horses – and ‘marrying’ up to three women.
He had also posed for pictures with rappers and boxers, including Floyd Mayweather when the US champion visited the UK.
A Ferrari he claimed was worth £250,000 was actually a former write-off and was unroadworthy. It was seized and crushed by police.
He tried to mastermind the £500,000 fraud by registering five existing personalised number plates with the DVLA under his own name and those of relatives – to then sell them on.
One of the victims targeted was lottery Gillian Bayford, who divorced husband Adrian 15 months after their Euromillions win.
Det Con Piper, who brought the gang to justice, said: “Zahid Khan was the one skilled in this fraud. He had identified this fraud through his criminal brain and his heavy involvement in the criminal industry and then enlisted the help of his two brothers and cousin.
During the investigation West Midlands Police also uncovered evidence linking him to six stolen cars being run on false plates.
In December 2014 he was caught behind the wheel of a VW Golf bearing cloned plates and the following February a Vauxhall van he’d bought was found displaying VRMs, suggesting it was two years younger than its manufacture date.
Det Con Piper said: “Zahid Khan portrayed the image of a legitimate businessman and a multi-millionaire…but in reality he is a career criminal and a con artist.
“He and his family and associates clearly thought they had identified a scheme that could make them significant sums of money: the five VRMs they had stolen the rights for had a combined value of half a million pounds.
“However, we uncovered the scam and he has rightly now been convicted for leading this criminal gang.”
Investigating officer, Detective Constable Rob Piper from West Midlands Police’s Economic Unit, said: “I would urge Khan to take a long hard look at himself in the mirror and reflect on what he’s done. He’s run away and left his own family to take the punishment for a criminal enterprise he orchestrated…that kind of action must be hard to live with.
“We are working with the Home Office and Interpol to trace Khan and bring him to justice. But I would also urge Zahid Khan to do the honourable thing and surrender to police, instead of letting his loved ones do the time for his crimes.”
