A SERIAL conman was yesterday ordered to spend an extra three years in prison after being found guilty of defrauding a man while on trial for similar offences.

George Steen is already serving a six-year sentence for masterminding a worldwide loans fraud from his North-East home.

And yesterday, at a court in London, the Darlington loanshark was jailed for another three years for swindling an American out of $25,000 (£12,800) and attempting to obtain a further $40,000 (£20,470) by deception.

In the late 1990s, Steen and his two Sussex agents netted £3.5m from a fraud where they would take thousands of pounds in "fees" to process multi-million pound loans.

They would meet clients in hotels, and when the victims had paid their "application fees", the fraudsters disappeared.

At the height of the fraud, Steen had stashes of cash in banks in Jersey, the Isle of Man, Hungary, Liechtenstein, Austria, the Philippines and Panama.

The former glamour photographer and acupuncturist operated the bogus loans company from properties in Geneva Road and Victoria Road, both Darlington.

Steen then used the money to fund an extravagant lifestyle in the Philippines.

In 2003, while on trial for these offences, he persuaded American Clinton Swaine to part with $25,000 in fees for a $6m (£3.07m) loan.

Mr Swaine, who was refurbishing a motel in Florida, was so impressed with Steen that he organised a further $82m (£42m) loan.

Steen asked for another $40,000 (£20,470) but soon after breached bail and used a second passport to fly to Manila in the Philippines.

Concerned, Mr Swaine flew to London and then drove to Darlington to track him down. He soon realised that Steen was already on trial and went to the police.

With the help of the Serious Fraud Office, Steen was eventually deported and brought back to the UK.