A wily Fox, or a case of bungling ineptitude?

The contrast between Foxley's pay as head of procurement for the Ministry of Defence and his lifestyle was just one of the lovely details that always stuck in my mind about him. In 1994, he was jailed for four years for taking bribes of £1.3 million from foreign arms manufacturers.

At the time I covered his story extensively and it struck me that if anyone wanted a case that highlighted the incompetence of British officialdom - and a pointer towards the lack of successful serious fraud prosecutions in this country - Foxley's was it.

That view has been reinforced by the news that he has managed to avoid paying anything back from the proceeds because the Crown Prosecution Service took 11 years to enforce the court's confiscation order.

This can be added to a catalogue of errors so extensive that you quickly stop laughing and start to wonder.

First, the MoD maintained it uncovered Foxley's crookery. Not so, said others, who insisted they tipped off the police after growing suspicious of his high living. In September 1989, he was arrested and charged with corruption. Then, for want of solid evidence, the charge was dropped.

In August 1990, he was again arrested but again the charge was dropped. Since retiring, Foxley had set up a defence consultancy business with his son, Paul. The police raided the firm's premises. As they searched, they noticed a cupboard hidden under a step. It contained two plastic bags full of documents. They put the bags in bin liners and asked Paul to sign for them. As he did, he grabbed the bags and ran off, locking the front door of the offices to delay the police.

When they caught up with him, on a farm near Henley, he had lit a bonfire and burned the documents. He was later jailed for attempting to pervert the course of justice. Foxley was dealing with companies in Geneva and his money was passing through Swiss bank accounts.

In one note, a Swiss executive boasted: "Scotland Yard or Sherlock Holmes has no possibility of making investigations in Switzerland."

In another, Foxley penned a poem, referring to the investigating policeman, DS Rogers as "Roger the Bodger" and including the ditty: "Up a creek minus a paddle, Their little brains addled, Of corruption they won't find a trace."

But they did - in all the police found Foxley had bought seven houses, including one in Switzerland. They were convinced he'd pocketed far more than £1.3 million - at least £3.5 million was more likely.

Still, for his trial, he received £160,000 worth of legal aid. His sentence included a further three years in prison if he failed to hand over £1.5 million within 18 months. It was never sent back: the MoD took civil actions against Foxley and Paul but the amounts they recovered were small; they also pursued the three foreign companies identified and obtained £3.4 million in an outofcourt settlement.

It was only in 2005 when a government task force contacted the court accounts office to ask how much had been retrieved under the court order did they discover nothing had been done. Now, a judge in the High Court has ruled, it is too late.

At 82, Foxley is saying he might write a book - "it would be nice to say things".

That's also what I remember him saying back then. As an account of trickery it would be interesting - but as a tale of Government ineptitude it could not be beaten.