A convicted Scottish fraudster has been fined in London for illegally charging for immigration advice to Pakistanis held in a detention centre.

James McDonald, 60, from Stirling, was fined £5000 and ordered to pay more than £6000 in costs after he pled guilty to providing illegal advice to five Pakistani nationals who were being held at Yarlswood Detention Centre.

Despite claiming to be working on a "no win, no fee" basis, McDonald was paid for "expenses" by his clients and also took £1000 from the Methodist Church of Great Britain, which had provided financial support for one of the detainees.

McDonald, who has served a seven-year prison sentence for handling counterfeit money, moved his operation from Edinburgh to England after he was informed he was being investigated.

The fraudster, who has also previously represented notorious criminal Jamie "Ice man" Stevenson and controversially sold petrol for 35p a litre in Stirlingshire, avoiding VAT, said he was appealing a statutory interpretation made by the judge.

He was investigated as he is not among a list of registered positions able to provide advice on immigration.

The Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC) was investigating McDonald when he was operating in Edinburgh in 2005 when he moved his operation to an address in Manchester.

The five Pakistan nationals' visas had expired and they were held at Yarlswood awaiting deportation.

He was ordered to pay £1000 compensation to the Methodist church.

A spokesman for the OISC said: "The victims in this case were vulnerable and in a muddled state of mind. Peddling illegal immigration advice is a serious matter and can ruin people's lives.

McDonald said: "I am appealing the ruling of the judge on the interpretation of the Immigration and Asylum Act and I am optimistic."

He claimed that as long as these people had parents who were alive and born before 1948 they were entitled to British citizenship under a 1948 act.

He said: "There are millions of people entitled to come to this country: they are migrants, not immigrants. This case has nothing to do with immigration or asylum."

McDonald is also awaiting the decision of a tribunal where he is claiming back VAT he paid on petrol which he was selling at 35p a litre in Tullibody, Stirlingshire - the cheapest in Britain. For a £100 fee motorists could fill up with 50 litres of fuel a week.

He was also involved in the biggest money laundering scam uncovered in Scotland.