A BOGUS workman who conned pensioners across East Lancashire is still being chased for money by prosecutors.

Three years after a £480,000 confiscation order was made against Nelson conman Robert Barker, now 62, he has paid back only £326,780.

The CPS says it has been extremely persistent in continuing to trace and seize his funds held in cash, bank accounts and property.

So far land owned by Barker, a house in Lancaster and a house in Nelson, as well as four vehicles including a Land Rover, have been sold and the money paid to HMCTS (Her Majesty’s Court and Tribunal Service).

Barker has made several attempts to delay the process and has yet to serve the default three-year sentence for not paying the full amount.

An application to the crown court to reduce the order was successfully opposed by the CPS, as was an appeal to the Court of Appeal in London.

But full enforcement was partially suspended during that process.

Barker, of Manchester Road, Nelson, claimed he was a ‘self-employed builder, tarmacer and pony trader’.

But he had amassed £173,000 in a string of bank accounts with false names from his life of crime.

Police said he was a ‘great threat to the elderly’ and had dishonesty convictions going back 30 years.

He was jailed for two-and-a-half years in January, 2008 for conning a frail 86-year-old Burnley woman out of £450 by saying he had done work on her house.

Police believe he took £40,000 from the woman over two years.

CPS chiefs are currently in the process of seizing his remaining asset, an ornate caravan worth £25,000.

CPS spokesman John Dilworth, said: “We have been determined that Robert Barker should not profit from his crimes.”