A FAKE doctor, who was jailed for eight-and-a-half years in November for blackmailing Muslim women, has been ordered to pay back almost £3,500.

Farhan Mirza, aged 38, formerly of Arael View, Abertillery, appeared at the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) hearing in Newport Crown Court yesterday.

The court heard Mirza had benefitted from his crimes by £8,500 but can only pay back £3,425. Judge Daniel Williams told the phoney physician he has 28 days – until May 30 – to repay £3,425 or face an additional three months to his sentence.

The court heard that Mirza was living at his mother’s house at the time of his arrest, and a number of laptops and phones which were seized will be set for forfeiture and destruction once the owner of the device can be identified.

In November, Judge Tom Crowther QC, sentenced Mirza to eight-and-a-half years at Cardiff Crown Court after he was found guilty of nine charges against him.

The jury in his trial returned unanimous verdicts against the 38-year-old taxi driver. He was found guilty of three counts of blackmail, one count of theft, one count of fraud, two counts of voyeurism and two counts of sexual assault.

He was accused of blackmailing a doctor, a woman journalist and a psychology graduate with secret films of them naked. Mirza allegedly convinced women he was a high-flying doctor, and was described as a “sexual and financial predator” in court.

He denied trying to blackmail any of the women with explicit videos found on his phone, saying either they were taken with consent or show women who happen to look similar to them. He allegedly met two of the women on Muslim matrimonial website Shaadi.com, wearing medical scrubs and a stethoscope. During the trial, the jury heard, Mirza demanded thousands of pounds from the women after he began blackmailing them and allegedly threatened to release video clips which showed them naked - knowing it would shame them and their families.

One of Mirza’s victims, a doctor, claimed Mirza threatened to send explicit images of her (taken without her permission)to her colleagues and her family in Pakistan if she didn’t comply.

Mirza’s alleged demands included trying to force the doctor to get a certificate for back pain so he could be signed off work, and to pay for a £16,000 motorcycle, to which she refused.