David Price: Rogue trader says he can't pay back £1.3million to elderly people he conned because he spent it on Big Fat Gypsy Wedding-style presents David Price led gang of travellers who ripped off victims across country Was jailed, with members of family, in 2011 for fraud and money laundering Told the hearing he spent thousands on weddings for others in community Proceeds of Crime Act hearing was held this week at Teesside Crown Court Gang benefited by more than £1.3m and ordered to repay £413,948 Price faces longer jail term if he does not repay £368,350 David Price, the leader of a gang of travellers who ripped off victims across the country, claimed he had spent some of the £1.3m gained on Big Fat Gypsy Wedding-style presents The leader of a gang of rogue traders which made more than £1.3 million by conning elderly people tried to get out of repaying the cash by claiming he had spent some of it on Big Fat Gypsy Wedding-style presents. David Price led a gang of travellers who ripped off victims across the country by massively overcharging for unnecessary and shoddy home maintenance or gardening jobs, carefully picking the most vulnerable householders. He and members of his family from Brigg, Humberside, were jailed at Teesside Crown Court in 2011 for fraud and money laundering. A Proceeds of Crime Act hearing was held this week. Price, 44, who is currently serving more than seven-and-a-half years, told the hearing he spent thousands on weddings for others in his community, jewellery and furs from Bond Street, his horses and vans, as well as gambling and cigarettes. He told the court the show Big Fat Gypsy Weddings showed how travellers often clubbed together to pay for lavish ceremonies and splashed out on generous presents. But Judge Howard Crowson, sitting yesterday at Teesside Crown Court, said: 'In Mr Price's evidence there was an attempt to persuade me that it is part of his culture to provide lavish gifts at weddings and a reference to popular television in support. If I regarded popular television as a guide to behaviour in the general population I would do a disservice to the general population. Mr Price produced no evidence of any such purchase and mentioned not a single person to whom he had made such a gift. The gang was found to have benefited from their crimes by a total of £1,338,047.40 and must repay £413,948.35 of that - but should their assets increase in future, they could be forced to pay back the full amount. Price now faces a longer jail term if he does not repay £368,350.77 of the £455,629 he was found to have benefited from through crime. His wife Angelina Price, also known as Nicholson, must pay back £22,149.60 of the £509,384.56 she benefited from. Judge Crowson said of David Price yesterday: 'My overall view was of a man who, whilst seeking to appear fair-minded, merely pretended to be making concessions as to expenditure when he was, at all times, seeking to mislead me so as to reduce his potential liability.' Angelina Price (left) must pay back £22,149.60 of the £509,384.56 she benefited from. Members of the Price family, from Brigg, Humberside (right) were jailed at Teesside Crown Court in 2011 for fraud and money laundering A judge sitting at Teesside Crown Court (pictured) yesterday said Price 'produced no evidence' of buying lavish gifts for weddings North Yorkshire Trading Standards officers began an 18-month investigation into the Prices after the gang moved to an illegal site off the A1 at Dishforth while on their way to Appleby Horse Fair and there were complaints about elderly people being conned by doorstep traders offering to carry out gardening work. Investigations revealed the lengths to which the gang would go to press their victims - some in their 90s and extremely frail, many suffering from dementia - to pay for work which was rarely ever done. One 85-year-old was pressured to part with £52,000; another victim, over 80 and the sole carer of a husband with dementia, was defrauded of more than £23,000 for gardening work. If I regarded popular television as a guide to behaviour in the general population I would do a disservice to the general population Judge Howard Crowson As the investigation developed, hundreds of payments into multiple bank accounts held by the gang and their associates were found. Victims were found throughout Yorkshire and the Humber region and across other counties including Essex, Derbyshire, Staffordshire and Nottinghamshire. The Prices pretended to be genuine tree surgeons despite having no qualifications. The operation involved flyers, magnetic signs for their vans and staff in branded T-shirts, running seven or eight differently-named firms. When their caravan site was raided, officers found £25,000 in cash in a kettle. After the hearing, David Bowe, North Yorkshire County Council's director of business and environmental services, said: 'We are absolutely determined to use every tool available to us to protect vulnerable residents in this county from doorstep crime and to achieve justice for them, including compensation payments, when they have been defrauded by such appalling offenders as these. The Proceeds of Crime Act is an extremely valuable tool which is available to us and the courts to ensure that crime does not pay and that victims in cases such as this get their hard-earned savings back. Trading Standards traced at least 81 victims, and they or their estates will be a priority to be repaid from the Prices' cash, a spokeswoman said.