A city trader from Fleet who was jailed for 11 years for rigging the Libor lending rate must pay back £878,000 or serve an extra three years in prison, a High Court judge has ruled.

Tom Hayes, 36, of Chineham Close on Fleet’s Elvetham Heath estate, was the ‘ringmaster’ in a global operation to profit from fixing the London Interbank Offered Rate.

He persuaded brokers to tweak Libor - the banks’ average interest rate - in his favour with perks like kickback payments, vintage champagne or even as little as a takeaway.

In August last year, Hayes became the first person to be convicted in the Libor scandal for rigging the rate during his time as a Yen Libor trader in Tokyo.

He is still the only person to have been convicted, after six UK-based brokers accused of conspiring with him were acquitted earlier this year.

The Serious Fraud Office was hoping, at a confiscation hearing, to recoup up to £3.8 million Hayes earned in cash and bonuses.

The prosecution claimed that at least 35% of his total remuneration during his time in Tokyo was as a result of his Libor fraud.

They went after his £1.9 million house in Surrey, money he poured into a tech start up and cash presents to family and friends.

They also demanded that cash he had in a Halifax bank account, he and his wife’s wedding rings, the family Mercedes and his Rolex Daytona watch – worth a combined total of £46,700 – be handed over to pay prosecution costs.

On Wednesday (March 23) Mr Justice Cooke ordered Hayes pay back just £878,806 following a week-long hearing under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

He gave Hayes three months to pay, but acknowledged it may take the family a little longer to sell the house and granted his legal team the right to apply for a time extension.

The judge has yet to make a ruling on costs.

'Obsessive trader'

During the investigation in 2013, Hayes transferred his half of the house - worth £800,000 - to his wife Sarah Tighe for just £250,000, despite being warned against it by his lawyers as it would like he was trying to dissipate his assets.

The couple raised a £325,000 mortgage on the house - the Old Rectory in Woldingam, Surrey - claiming they planned to have the garden landscaped.

But the prosecution claimed the cash was to pay Hayes’ legal fees, and the transfer of the house constitutes either a sham transaction or a tainted gift to Ms Tighe.

Hayes claimed that only 5% of the income in his profit and loss account while working at UBS and Citibank was down to the movement of Libor.

The obsessive trader - dubbed Rainman by his colleagues - denied his bonuses were directly linked to his performance.

He said he would only spend 15 minutes out of a packed 11-and-a-half hour day discussing Libor rates.

So far, Hayes is the only individual to be convicted after his alleged co-conspirators - Colin Goodman, 53, Darrell Read, 50, Danny Wilkinson, 48, James Gilmour, 50, Noel Cryan, 49, and Terry Farr, 44 - were cleared of any involvement in the plot in January this year after a four-month trial.

When asked about the bribes such as meals and entertainment Hayes was said to have paid to his six co-conspirators, he pointed out that as all six were acquitted, they could not be considered bribes.

Neither Hayes – who was convicted of eight counts of conspiring to defraud between September 2006 and September 2010 and is currently in prison in Nottinghamshire – or Ms Tighe were present for the final High Court ruling.