A DISGRACED Ross-on-Wye businessman has escaped a jail sentence after being convicted of buying illegal diesel fuel.

Henry Danter, aged 61, was told by Judge David Swift at Liverpool Crown Court that after serious consideration he had decided not to send him to prison.

But Danter, who lives at the Doward Hotel, Symonds Yat, was fined £50,000, there was an order that £78,250 be confiscated and he was ordered to pay £25,000 prosecution costs. He faces 12 months imprisonment if the confiscation sum is not paid or if he defaults on the fine.

"You started in a very small way from an under-privileged beginning and by the age of 61, with no history of criminal behaviour, having worked your way up, you find yourself here at risk of a prison sentence," said the judge.

Danter, who owns two service stations in Symonds Yat, had bought the fuel between April and August 2002 from a man who gave a false name.

Throughout the trial he claimed he had thought it was legitimate fuel.

The fraud ended when customs officers intercepted a delivery of 30,000 litres of fuel oil to one of Danter's service stations.

It was the sixth illegal delivery to the defendant.

Simon Drew, for Danter, said his client was a self-made man who had created a considerable business empire.

On this occasion he had been greedy but had paid a heavy price for his involvement in the fraud.

"It has been a great embarrassment and humiliation to find himself in the dock. There has been considerable local publicity which has caused him and his family a great deal of hurt and people have shunned him and stayed clear of his family," said Mr Drew.

He described Danter as "all but physically and emotionally broken" and said his estranged wife had died during the trial.

It was also revealed that Danter has been told that he will have to resign from his fairground business because he can no longer get insurance.