A WELWYN man has successfully won a �2m High Court action, along with World Cup hero Sir Geoff Hurst, against fraudsters involved in a Spanish property scam.

Paul Kenyon, Sir Geoff and four other people sued businessman Mark Cordner, of Park Lane, Knebworth.

The claimants had alleged, due to Mr Cordner’s deceit, they had paid full price for apartments in Marbella, in 2003 and 2004, to which their rights were now worthless.

Judge, Mr Justice Keith, on Thursday ruled the investors were entitled to damages having been deceived into parting with six-figure sums on the basis of “a tissue of lies” told to them by Mr Cordner and his associate Michael Hone.

Mr Kenyon, who was tricked into handing over �251,748 to buy a luxury apartment, later discovered his cash was used to purchase Mr Cordner’s own large detached house in the Times Territory village.

He told the Welwyn Hatfield Times: “People need to be aware of what this man has done.

“We were 99 per cent sure that we were going to win this case.”

Mr Kenyon continued: “We are relieved at the judgment at the end of a terrible ordeal for my family.

“I am annoyed that someone I thought to be a close friend could take our money and carry on for years as if nothing had happened.

“We only discovered that Mark Cordner had used our money to buy his own property from documents we obtained with a court order.”

Mr Kenyon added he was now hoping to recover as much of the money as possible.

Chris Corney of solicitors DMH Stallard was working for the six claimants.

He said: “This case shows the perils of buying property off-plan in Spain without checking the legal background first. “Sadly many more British property buyers have fallen victim to similar scams.

“In some rare cases it is possible to trace fraudsters’ assets in the UK and we are hopeful these claimants will make a significant recovery.”

The amount of damages the group – which includes David Barkley, Terence Hopley, Martin Roberts and Verna Roberts – are entitled to will be assessed at a later date.

Soccer star Sir Geoff, who was conned out of �600,000, was not in court to hear the judgement.