A NOTORIOUS former nightclub boss and fugitive has been ordered to pay £1m in unpaid taxes and fines.

Gary Robb was reputed to have earned up to £10,000 a week in door money from the Colosseum club during the height of the rave scene in the 90s.

Robb was arrested after the Stockton club was closed down by Cleveland Police in 1996 due to suspected drug problems at the venue.

The Northern Echo: Fugitive Gary Robb at his villa in northern Cyprus, where he is avoiding British authorities after being discovered to be at the centre of a North-East drugs ring in 1996 (24724031)

Fugitive Gary Robb at his villa in northern Cyprus, where he is avoiding British authorities after being discovered to be at the centre of a North-East drugs ring in 1996

Despite fleeing the country while on bail for drug offences, Robb continued his criminal activity when he set up a dodgy development firm and conned people out millions of pounds while selling villas in Northern Cyprus.

In 2009, Robb was deported back to the UK, where he was arrested, convicted and sentenced to five years in prison.

Following his custodial sentence he was extradited to Cyprus as a result of the property scam and was sentenced by authorities there to 11 months in prison for illegal use of the land.

In March 2012, the Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), was successful in its civil recovery action against Robb freezing assets worth £1.5m.

A joint claim was submitted by victims who were helped by the National Crime Agency, which replaced the SOCA in 2013. It shared crucial information obtained during its investigation to support their pivotal case and trace back the money they had unwittingly invested.

Robb denied the property venture was dishonest and fought to keep the cash, which was seized as he tried to transfer it to his wife and child in Thailand.

And now he has lost an appeal against a back-tax bill totalling almost £620,000 and has also incurred late payment penalties of more than £430,000.

Claims that he worked “simply as a rent collector”, and had little to do with the club’s management, were rejected by a tax tribunal.

Robb once ran a string of pubs and clubs across Teesside, Newcastle and Sunderland, including the Colosseum in Norton Road, Stockton, formerly The Blue Monkey.

He became one of the North East’s most wanted men when he fled his home the day before he was due to stand trial for drugs offences after a £10,000 haul of Class-A substances was found at the nightclub he ran.

Tribunal judge, Jonathan Cannan, described how, in July 2005, Robb tried to shift £1.5m from his Cypriot bank account to Thailand.

But the cash, generated by his property frauds in Cyprus, was routed via London and seized.

He was finally arrested in Cyprus and, in July 2010, pleaded guilty to permitting the Colosseum to be used for drug dealing.

Whilst living on the island, Robb pocketed door receipts from the Colosseum and another venue of £5,000 to £10,000-a-week but never paid a penny in tax.

His brother, James Robb - who served 12 years jail for allowing drug dealing at the Colosseum - backed his claim that he was not involved in managing the club.

But Judge Cannan told the First-tier Tribunal: “We do not consider that James Robb’s evidence is cogent or reliable.

“It is not independent, coming as it does from Gary Robb’s brother.”

He added: “We have found that Gary Robb was entitled to door money from the Colosseum.

“The one thing he has consistently acknowledged and has not denied is that he has failed to pay tax on his income.”

The estimate of the tax he owed, and the size of the penalty, were “justified” and not “disproportionate”, the judge concluded.