TV celebrity Jeff Brown, the double-glazing ad salesman, has been told to find nearly £53,500 after being caught carrying out a major tax fraud.

And Brown, 51, the face of the Safestyle UK ads, was told he would face 12 months behind bars if he did not find the cash, the town’s crown court heard.

Brown, of Prairie Crescent, Burnley was given a 20-month suspended prison sentence earlier this year after he failed to deliver tax returns since 2009, on earnings from his double glazing and football announcing work for the likes of Burnley FC and Accrington Stanley.

Defence counsel Tim Brennand said: “The defendant has now put his financial affairs in order and has an accountant and a book-keeper.”

One of his key assets was held in Spain, Mr Brennand told the court, and it may take some time to arrange for its disposal.

Brown was also anxious to know whether the tax authorities would still be pursuing him for lost taxes, the court heard.

But prosecutor Jeremy Lasker said he understood, through a HMRC investigator who had attended court, that there would be no further direct action.

An agreement having been reached between the prosecution and defence, Judge Mark Brown, Recorder of Preston, said that the benefit figure to Brown was calculated at £50,000 plus £3,498 interest.

Brown would have to serve a 12-month prison sentence if the amount was not repaid within three months, said the judge, though he could apply for a further three-month extension if he still had an outstanding issue in Spain.

The TV performer had registered himself as a self-employed salesman and entertainer but had not submitted a tax self-assessment form for 14 years. He was said to have earned more than £300,000 in sales commissions for his double glazing work and £6,900 as a match day entertainer at Burnley FC.

Zoe Ellerbeck, a HMRC assistant director, said: “This is a case of a well-known local personality and character flaunting the law as if it didn’t apply to him. This was deliberate theft from taxpayers.”