A CROOKED civil servant blamed for the loss of hundreds of ROF jobs in Blackburn is facing legal action to seize his £1million country home.

Solicitors acting for the Ministry of Defence have targeted Gordon Foxley's Oxfordshire house after he failed to repay bribes he accepted to set up lucrative arms contracts abroad.

Foxley, a former director of munitions procurement, was convicted and jailed in May, 1994, for taking the cash, which led to 300 people losing their jobs at Blackburn's Royal Ordnance Factory.

Senior defence officials described his actions as 'the largest individual case of fraud in government circles ever.'

The home in Henley-on-Thames comes complete with swimming pool and riverbank setting. Before being caught, he also had a home in Salisbury, a holiday home in Geneva, and also owned valuable land in the south east.

He was described as having a passion for expensive cars, with his fleet at one time including a Rolls-Royce, Jaguar XJS, Ferrari, Range Rover and Ford Sierra Cosworth. Foxley's post awarding the military contracts had a salary of around £25,000 and he has since claimed he has no assets. At the time of his jailing a ruling stated that his house would not be seized because Foxley had put it in his wife's name. But the trustee in bankruptcy -- who is appointed by the creditors -- is now asking the High Court to rule that at least part of the house is his so it can be sold off.

Hyndburn MP Greg Pope said: "This is long overdue. Foxley's corruption cost the jobs of many many people in Hyndburn who worked for ROF in Blackburn.

"It's about time he was made to pay for his crimes and I'm very pleased solicitors for the MoD are taking this action."

Blackburn MP and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, who has always spearheaded a campaign to trace the missing millions. At the time of the trial of Foxley, Mr Straw said the effect on Blackburn of Foxley's efforts was "devastating," and that "it was like Ewood Park being demolished and Blackburn being consigned to the Vauxhall Conference."

Today he said: "I am very, very pleased that the trustees in bankruptcy are trying to get hold of the assets of Gordon Foxley, which are still at large through sleight of hand.

"I very much hope that this succeeds. There are many former workers from the Royal Ordnance Factory, in Blackburn, that will be delighted if it does."

The Transport and General Workers' Union has always urged some of the money to be handed over as compensation to the hundreds of ROF workers who lost their jobs because contracts dried up.

A spokesman said today they would be monitoring the latest action with interest.

Foxley overlooked the ROF, which in several cases could have made military parts for less, and arranged for contracts to go to firms in Germany and Italy in return for backhanders, which he stored in Swiss bank accounts.

He was sentenced to four years in jail and ordered by the judge to pay back £1.5million to the Government he accepted in bribes within 18 months or face another three years in jail.

But by June 1996 the Crown Prosecution Service said the cash had still not been paid back, even though Foxley was released from prison after serving only two years of his sentence.

The Ministry of Defence confirmed today that action had been started to seize his £1m country home in Oxfordshire,to pay the debts.

Sara Dayman, a partner at BDO Stoy Hayward chartered accountants, was appointed by the Secretary of State as Trustee in Bankruptcy to Gordon Foxley on 20 September 1996.

A spokesman for the firm said: "BDO Stoy Hayward can confirm that the Trustee in Bankruptcy has lodged proceedings, under the Insolvency Act 1986, to recover Mr Foxley's share of a property in Henley-on-Thames.

"The case will be going to court later this year and the outcome of the case will determine whether or not creditors, including the Ministry of Defence, will receive a dividend in the bankruptcy estate."

A Berlin-based anti-corruption group, called Transparency International, compiled a report into Foxley's crimes in 1994 which said 300 jobs were lost after it failed to win orders, costing the local economy £2.1million a year and the taxpayer £510,000 in unemployment benefit.

At its height in the 1960s, the ROF in Blackburn employed 3,000. By the time it closed earlier this year, fewer than 100 remained.