NOTORIOUS landlord Nicholas Van Hoogstraten refused to tell police who was driving his car.

Police issued a speeding ticket on a Cadillac speeding over the 30 mile per hour limit in Lewes Road, Brighton on February 26.

A ticket was sent to Nicholas Adolf Von Hessen - a well known alias used by the property developer.

However he refused to tell Sussex police who was driving the car at the time. He also refused to turn up at at court on two separate occasions

The 72 year old was found guilty in his absence at Crawley Magistrates' Court on Tuesday.

Hoogstraten, who gave the court his address at the £2.2million Framfield Lodge,in Uckfield, and was ordered to pay £811 in fines and court costs and six penalty points were put on his driving licence.

In 2000 Van Hoogstraten was investigated by Companies House over his aliases - including the Nicholas Van Hessen name.

At the time he told The Argus: "my proper name is Nicholas Von Hessen but in most cases the companies I am involved in I am not a director of."

He said he used a string of other pseudonyms but said had used none of them for company directorships. He said: I have used Yogi Bear but only when buying properties and the name Old Scrooge, which is from a Disney film.

Companies House records show he held eight company directorships under the name Nicholas Adolf Von Hessen, all of which he has now resigned from.

Nicholas Von Hessen was named as a company director of Brighton Brides Ltd based in The Drive, Hove, which was dissolved following a compulsory striking off order in 2013.

He is still director of a firm called Zimbabwe Philatelic Agency Ltd, also registered to The Drive address. The dormant company had £100,000 in assets last year.

Last year the controversial tycoon branded homeless people a "filthy burden" and his neighbours "moronic peasants".

Uckfield residents raised concerns that his £40 million palace - known as the Temple of Doom - had been lying empty and unfinished for more than 30 years.

There had been calls for Mr van Hoogstraten to open up the Hamilton Palace estate to the homeless or migrants.

But he responded by saying: “Even the most moronic of peasants would be able to see that we have been busy landscaping the grounds.

“The homeless are one of the filthiest burdens on the public purse today."