THE Serious Fraud Office will take legal action to confiscate the assets of those involved in an £8m shares scam.

Meanwhile, the organisation has given hope to investors in Worldwide Bio Refineries (WBR) that they may eventually recover some of the money they lost.

WBR, which was based in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, was a vehicle for a so-called “boiler room” shares scam and was founded by director Redmond “Ray” Johnson.

Johnson, 66, from Washington, Wearside, admitted consipring to defraud investors after a lengthy investigation by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO).

Dennis Potter, 72, who lived in Singapore and was the chief executive of WBR, had denied the same offence, but was convicted after a three month trial at Ipswich Crown Court.

Five men who managed share sales for WBR were also convicted of the charge, with all those involved due to be sentenced on September 23.

Victims included an 81-year-old man from County Durham, who spent £5,000 on shares. The pensioner, a former British Rail worker, died last year.

His 82-year-old widow said she only discovered the shares certificates he had been given were bogus when she went to a solicitor to sort out his financial affairs. She has since been in touch with the SFO.

She said: “I just feel dreadful. It is hard when you think our hard-earned money has just been squandered in this way. I would like a bit back.

When you are on a pension, every penny counts.”

An SFO spokeswoman said Johnson and Potter had “lived the high-life” and spent more than £2m from “business expenses” generated by the company to pay for trips abroad and stays in expensive hotels.

She said the SFO was intending to seek confiscation orders against those convicted. It could lead to a compensation fund for victims, one of whom spent £195,000 on shares.

Investors in WBR were duped into believing they were buying into a successful biofuel company that was to be floated on the stock market