Solicitor piles up the cash by rolling in the mud

A Nottingham-based solicitor has found a novel way to supplement his income: he has set up pileofmud.com, an Internet Web site which literally sells piles of mud to customers on-line.Jonathan Fagan, an assistant solicitor specialising in crime and mental health at Barrie Ward & Julian Griffith, thought of the idea when on holiday.

'It was more of a scientific experiment - to see if anyone was daft enough to actually pay money for mud - than a joke'.The site offers packages such as the 'executive', comprising 1kg of gift wrapped mud complete with a leaflet on the history of mud and a video of said mud being dug up.Despite the success of the experiment - media coverage has resulted in more than 20,000 people visiting the site - Mr Fagan has no plans to give up law to become a dot-com entrepreneur.

He is looking to sell the site, with all offers, in cash not mud, considered.Victoria MacCallum