Lib Dem donor Michael Brown to start jail term

A judge has directed convicted fraudster and former Liberal Democrat donor Michael Brown to start serving his seven-year prison sentence.

Brown was extradited to the UK from Spain on Monday after he went on the run to the Dominican Republic in July 2008.

He was convicted in his absence in November 2008 of stealing £36m from clients after posing as a bond dealer.

Brown, 46, donated £2.4m to the Lib Dems before the 2005 general election.

Brown was arrested in the tourist town of Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic in January over an unrelated fraud charge.

Local police said he had been living in the Caribbean state under the name of Darren Nally.

Brown went on the run, sparking an international manhunt, after stealing millions from clients.

This included nearly £8m from former Manchester United chairman Martin Edwards.

He had posed as a highly successful bond dealer and claimed connections with royalty.

The island does not have an extradition treaty with the UK, but he was deported to Madrid, from where he was brought back to the UK through a European Arrest Warrant secured by the City of London Police.

Brown's donation to the Liberal Democrats' election war chest - its largest ever donation - was funded through the use of investors' money.

The Electoral Commission ruled in 2009 that the party could keep the money.

It found the Lib Dems had accepted the fraudster's donation in good faith and cleared the party of all wrongdoing.