POLICE yesterday won their bid to confiscate more than £5,000 from the brother of murderer Robert Chapman.

Chapman, 37, from Hartlepool, was convicted last year of the shooting of retired miner Fred Fowler, in a pub in Hendon, Sunderland.

Police found £5,070 in a caravan that had been parked overnight in a layby near Exelby Services on the A19, in North Yorkshire, two days after the murder, on July 18, 2004.

They were alerted by a cashier who became suspicious of Chapman and his lover, Lee Hay, who were staying in the caravan.

However, the caravan belonged to Chapman's brother, Graham, 45, of Eskdale Road, Hartlepool.

Yesterday, he appeared at Northallerton Magistrates' Court to oppose an application by North Yorkshire Police to forfeit the money.

He claimed it belonged to him and was legitimately obtained through two bank loans.

Mr Chapman told the court he had been planning to use it for home improvements, but hid it in the caravan after suffering a back injury.

He told the court he lent his car and caravan to his brother when he said he wanted to go away for a few days.

In a statement read to the court, Robert Chapman said he had come across the money in the caravan while making the beds, and, realising it was his brother's, carried it with him for safe-keeping.

Graham Duff, acting for the Chief Constable of North Yorkshire Police, Della Cannings, said Mr Chapman had admitted in interviews that he was planning to use the loan money to buy pigeons and trade in cars.

He said: "We do not accept that this money has ever been in the hands of Graham Chapman.

"It may have been 'running away money' after a planned murder."

This was strongly disputed by Mr Chapman.

He said: "What my brother did was evil and horrible. I have been locked up twice for it.

"I feel as though I have been trodden on since the beginning of this.

"I got the money from the bank, my back went and I put it away.

"I have never had chance to spend the money, you came and took it."

Chairman of the bench Rita Twiss, ordering the forfeiture of the money, said: "We deem it to be recoverable property and also intended for use in unlawful conduct."

A further £1,790 seized from the Saab car found with the caravan was included in the forfeiture order. Magistrates also ordered Graham Chapman to pay £5,500 costs.

Lee Hay and Robert Chapman were also listed for yesterday's hearing, but were unrepresented in court.