the times | Saturday April 30 2022 37
News
Erotic novelist
who posed as
UN ambassador
still owes £1.5m
A self-styled knight has
continued his life of
luxury even after his
scam led to a jail term,
Neil Johnston writes
sentence in 2019 for hiding his assets, he
has continued to pose as an inter-
national diplomat, in an apparent at-
tempt to secure business from those
who trust him with their money.
His consultancy ranges from crypto-
currency to investment advice and ap-
pears to echo the scam he was jailed for
a decade ago.
Bizarrely, as well as writing books
claiming to be a financial guru, and pro-
fessing to be the inventor of Contracts
for Difference, a complex but popular
form of trading which sees billions
change hands daily, Danison has be-
come a prolific erotic novelist.
One book, Wildflower, appears to be
his own take on the Twilight film saga
and promises to be a “thrilling horror
romance and steamy adventure” in-
volving the “intricacies of how were-
wolves and vampires satisfy their emo-
tional and sensual needs”. Another,
Paranormal Club, is “a naughty and
saucy” romance set in a ghost hunting
club while Offence and Justice follows
the story of “love, lust, sex, and a
complicated marriage relationship of
an attorney couple”.
On his website, Danison has a picture
of himself sitting in front of a mock-up
of the Oval Office and has gone as far as
to produce online discussions in front
of a computer-generated audience of
realistic looking Zoom listeners, where
he boasted about meeting “prime min-
isters and presidents”.
He has also produced a series of fake
certificates to support his claims. He
has remained more private at home,
however, with neighbours describing
the conman as “secretive” and odd.
His mansion is shielded by woodland
and only a long winding driveway is vis-
ible from the main road where passers
by are blocked by gates and three signs
warning of “private road”, “CCTV” and
“beware of the dog”, which on social
media appears to be an affable black
labrador.
Danison’s past has been painstaking-
ly hidden from his neighbours who say
they have never seen him during his
ownership of the house. “Do you know
what, in all this time I have never seen
anyone from that house. I’ve never
even seen any cars coming or going,”
one farmer, who owns land adjoining
the property, said.
“We used to see the previous owner
all the time when she lived there and to
say ‘hello’ or whatever but I’ve never
seen the current owner. It’s like he’s
being very secretive. I’ve heard
rumours that he’s a bit dodgy and might
have been inside but I didn’t know
what for.”
When informed that his neighbour
had been ordered to repay £1.5 million
or return to prison, the farmer said:
“That house is worth £1.5 million easy.
It comes with quite a bit of land.”
Another woman living nearby added:
“I’ve never seen anyone coming from
that house. It’s very intriguing.”
Danison did not answer questions,
but said: “You can say what the f*** you
like. You better be careful. You do not
know who you are dealing with. In
other words, f*** off.”
He must hand over £1.48 million by
the summer or will face a sentence of
more than eight years.With a knighthood, a UN ambassador-
ship and a role sentencing international
criminals, it is a wonder Sir Patrick
Bijou has found the time to write a
series of racy novels.
In fact, his prolific output of Jilly
Cooper-style fiction is the only thing
that is real about the self-styled knight
who introduces himself as “His
Excellency”.
While his books including Karmic
Love and Undying Lust can be ordered
through Amazon and Waterstones,
Bijou, 63, is not an international diplo-
mat, but a conman who owes millions
to the British taxpayer while living a life
of luxury.
Eric Fitzpatrick Danison, as he is
actually named, who is originally from
London, was jailed for 11 years in 2010
for a £14 million property scam as he
operated under the guise of bogus com-
panies to trick investors into handing
over large sums. The CPS only recov-
ered £450,000 from Danison, but he
has now been found to have been
shielding nearly £2 million of assets
while hiding out in a bolthole in rural
Wales and will face jail again unless he
pays back £1.5 million.
This week The Times tracked Dani-
son down to his spectacular mansion in
Llanarthney, Carmarthenshire, which
he purchased for £1.1 million as a cash
buyer in 2016 under his new name, im-
mediately after being released from
prison having served half his sentence.
Described as “magical” by the up-
market estate agent which sold the
property, it features 50 acres of
grounds, an annexe, woodland and two
lakes. With £500,000 in the bank and a
fleet of luxury cars including a £70,000
Alfa Romeo Giulia, a £60,000 Range
Rover and a classic Daimler, Danison
had no intention of paying back the tax-
payer until a whistleblower told police
of his whereabouts.
The property is five minutes’ drive
from the National Botanic Gardens of
Wales and has a tributary of the River
Towy, famous for its wild salmon and
sea trout, running through the grounds.
Danison adopted a new persona,
claiming to be a high-profile invest-
ment banker, fund manager and knight
who was a UN ambassador and a
“senior redemption judge” at the
International Court of Justice.
Despite a tip-off leading to a brief jail
Eric Fitzpatrick Danison at his arrest
in 2010, left, and as he appears now
News
Danison, who lives in a £1.1 million
home in Carmarthenshire, is a prolific
writer of works such as Karmic Love