A convicted loan shark has been ordered to pay back £100,000.

Derrick Morgan preyed on vulnerable adults in the Neath Port Talbot area of South Wales. He has already served a 12-month prison sentence for illegal money lending and benefit fraud.

He was told during a hearing at Newport Crown Court last Friday that he has six months to pay back the full amount or will be jailed for another two years.

For several years, Morgan operated as a private landlord and would offer to lend new tenants the bond on the agreement that they would pay it back in instalments on top of the rent.

The tenants would agree to this and make the extra payments but the debt never cleared - in part because of extortionate and undisclosed interest charges he added to the initial sum.

With the most vulnerable tenants, Morgan took control of their finances by getting them to sign a power of attorney. He would also get his tenants to sign blank sheets of paper, which he would use to make to make false benefit claims on, pretending to be on their behalf, and have the money paid into accounts held or controlled by him.

A council spokesperson said: “Neath Port Talbot Council would like to commend the Wales Illegal Money Lending Unit for securing a conviction against Derrick Morgan.

“Derrick Morgan targeted the most vulnerable people in Neath Port Talbot for his own financial gain. He not only manipulated these vulnerable adults he also defrauded by tax payer by making false benefit claims on their behalf.

“The Authority is delighted that the Wales Illegal Money Lending Unit has used the full force of the law to bring Morgan to justice.”