A BUS driver's wife who masterminded a massive transport fraud has failed to secure a reduction in the £200,000 she was ordered to pay back.

Suzanne Bailey, 36, submitted grossly inflated claims for a rebate on fuel duty in relation to the Buzy Buz Ltd and Catchmebus.com bus companies which she operated in Blackburn.

London's Court of Appeal heard that she also made claims using false insurance documents.

Bailey, formerly of Rishton and now of Partridge Drive, Baxenden, pleaded guilty in Preston Crown Court to three counts of using a false instrument and three counts of obtaining a transfer by deception.

She was jailed for two years last June and the judge threatened her with a further two years in prison if she failed to comply with a confiscation order of £195,315.

Bailey, whose scams earned her in excess of £625,000, has now failed in a Court of Appeal bid which sought to have the order quashed.

The Court of Appeal in London was told that a hearing to determine the confiscation order, both lawyers for the Crown and for Mrs Bailey agreed that two assets should be taken into consideration - a small parcel of land worth £315, and the house which she owned with her husband which was valued at £195,000.

However at the appeal hearing, Mrs Bailey appealed the confiscation order on the grounds that, because her husband had an established interest in the matrimonial home, the full value of the property should not have been taken into account.

Her lawyers urged the judges to quash the order, saying that Mrs Bailey should have been required to pay back a lower amount. They argued that, as Mrs Bailey only had a part-share in the equity of her home, she would be unable able to pay back the order and would face prison as a result.

However Mr Justice Mackay, accompanied on the bench by Lord Justice Laws and Mr Justice Lloyd Jones, rejected the appeal as "the order had been made with the consent of Mrs Bailey at the time."