A Bradford bootlegger is to lose everything he owns after a judge ordered him to sell his house to meet a massive tax bill.

David Waddington, 44, must sell his Silsden bungalow to pay customs and excise £79,957 in duties he avoided paying on cigarettes and booze he had been selling in pubs in the town.

But sentencing Waddington to a year in prison at Bradford Crown Court yesterday, Judge Roger Scott described the bootlegger as "a perfectly decent man" and said he had no choice but to confiscate his home. He said: "These are the only laws and rules I can think of where the judge has absolutely no discretion.

"And I think in your case it leads to financial ruin. You have lost everything."

In mitigation, barrister Nicholas Askins, for Waddington, said the confiscation of his client's home was a draconian punishment.

He said: "He is paying a heavy price for his offences. He stands to lose his home - which represents his life's work - and all the savings which were to be used to promote his new business.

"The prison sentence will hit him hard and, as you can understand, he's at a very low ebb."

However, Judge Scott said that it should be remembered that defrauding the taxman was not a victimless crime.

He said: "I don't think you understand the seriousness of the offence. If you think this is a victimless crime you are wrong.

"This government uses the money it gets from tax for all manner of things including the National Health Service, roads, and the police. Everybody in this courtroom is a victim."

The court heard how customs officers had watched Waddington selling cigarettes and rolling tobacco at The Robin Hood and Grouse pubs in Silsden on a number of occasions in the last two years before his arrest in March.

Waddington admitted dealing in bootleg cigarettes, hand rolling tobacco and alcohol between April 1998 and March 2000.

His house and £4,362 savings which were found at the house will now go towards paying £79,957 which Waddington owes the taxman.

A customs and excise spokesman said after the case: "What this case demonstrates is how seriously the courts are viewing this type of offence. Smuggled tobacco costs this country £2.5billion a year and there comes a time when it has to be stopped."