The following years are one adventure after another. "I got into gold bullion smuggling, then diamonds - I bought three gold mines and a diamond mine in Sierra Leone." When the rebels moved into Freetown in 1997, he was caught in the middle. "I was wrestling with a black guy called Rambo over an AK47. I thought: ‘How the f**k did I get into this?’. I let go and ran for it through a forest. Rambo shot me in the arm." He hasn’t been back to reclaim his mines.

Miller hit the big time seven years ago when he started dealing in kitchen hardware. He bought rejects and sold them as seconds. Then he made the life-changing decision to go to China.

"A mate of mine was going. I said ‘I’m going, too’, and leapt on a flight with him." Success took time. "I lost every penny I’d made out there. The first set of yellow doors I bought were pink. The first set of yellow accessories I bought were blue. But I learnt my lessons and we got through it."

The Channel Four documentary revealed his extraordinary tactics, such as spraying a coach to resemble an official Olympic Inspection Committee bus. "It stops the police from messing with me," he claimed. His haggling technique was equally daring. In one scene he dismantled a bathroom unit in front of the vendor, pricing each part. "What does this cost - f***ing nothing. And this. F***ing nothing. Two times nothing is f***ing nothing!"

"China is perfect for a guy like me," says Miller. "If you are a bit of a wussy, you are not going to last five f***ing minutes."

His progress in the last two years has been staggering. "I’ve got three warehouses - one in Guangzhou in the south, Shanghai in the middle and Dalian at the top. I’ve got eight offices with inspectors to check the goods. And I’ve got 60 guys on production lines. If you buy from a Chinese factory, they’ll have a quality control guy at the end of each line. But he works for the factory. If he sees a reject, he’s under orders to put it into the box. So I’ve got my own guys at the end of each line. I pay them double what anyone else in China gets. If I get one damaged product at this end he loses his job, so it’s in his interest to make sure I don’t get ripped off."

This attention to detail is inconsistent with his reputation as a shyster. So how does he explain the 50,000 complaints a year he gets? Miller laughs: "50,000 complaints?

That’s what Trading Standards say I get. I asked them what evidence they had that I got so many. They said ‘Data Protection Act, we don’t have to say’. So I went to court and used the Freedom of Information Act. The real number? In 2005 I got 73 complaints. The previous year I got 83." With a flourish, Miller says he’s hired libel lawyers Carter-Ruck to take on the newspapers that have maligned him.

Then there’s his conspiracy theory. Miller has been claiming for years that the source of all his troubles is the local council, which wants to buy his mill and convert it into flats. Since he won’t sell, they are trying to bankrupt him, he claims. "Look at this," he says, and produces a several-hundred-page document. It’s the council’s architectural and financial plan to convert his mill. "I’ve also got them on tape discussing the plan to bankrupt me," he says.

Trading Standards in Oldham dismisses his victimisation claim, but acknowledges the 50,000 complaints figure is fiction, blaming the media. Other claims also crumble. During the November swoop on the Mill, it was widely reported that guns had been found. Er, no, admits Trading Standards. They were actually toy spud guns. It also says that despite the mega-raid in November, Miller has only been charged with importing sub-standard motorbikes, though investigations are ongoing.

Miller is pretty adept at explaining away the other black marks on his record. On his three-year sentence for kidnapping, he says: "I caught some lads dropping through my Mum’s loft. I didn’t hurt them - I made them tea. But when I called the police, they didn't want to know. Instead, I was the one who got done." He produces a list of examples of negligence by the police. "Over the past six months my cash vans have been robbed nearly every week. Each time I was losing between £5,000 and £35,000." An employee explains to us how he got held up at gunpoint and slashed with a sword. "We have so much cash here, we are a target," says Miller.

All this evidence points to a man more sinned against than sinning. Trouble is, Miller’s brain is so focused on business he’s failed to combat poor media coverage. "I can’t be arsed with PR," he says complacently.

One thing is beyond doubt: his entrepreneurial nous. Turnover in his China operation is now £60m and rising fast as he sells direct to Chinese consumers. Miller has 40 kitchen showrooms only three months after opening the first. The target is 2,000 in two years.

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