I have been a victim of a fraud in France amounting to E64,000 where substantial deposits were made by a project manager to a contractor who has failed to carry out the work to schedule and is now disputing the amount received.
It appears that the contractor (an Englishman) is an alcoholic and that a good proportion of the funds may have disappeared down his throat.
It looks as though he has minimal assets in both France and the UK but does co-habit with a woman in a property (ownership unknown)
He freely admits he works in the black economy in France and I'm looking at the best course of action to effectively put him out of business and hopefully into jail to prevent him conning others (there are several other victims)
In France he has an interest in some land that he has offered to assign, this is in hand.
In the UK he has an interest in the will of his mother but the only asset of value is the family home. Is there anyway of attaching a claim to this property?
He also has an illegal bank account but the amounts involved are small.
At this stage I'm looking for general advice on the rights of action we may have against him even if it means throwing good money after bad.

Optional Information:
System of Law: EU

Already Tried:
Verbal and written negotiations. He has acknowledged the debt but not the amount. He was supposed to meet the project manager (a relation) on Saturday but failed to show up - in essence "went off on one and forgot" He has until this Friday to produce a compromise approach but suspect he won't. Need to respond instantly.