The elderly lost their life savings, while Steven Long lived a lavish lifestyle

A fraudster who swindled £11.4million from 115 elderly victims through a decade-long investment scam has been sentenced to eight years behind bars.

Steven Long, 59, of Mead Drive, Kesgrave, Suffolk, was jailed yesterday after he admitted two counts of fraud by abuse of position at Southwark Crown Court.

The conman operated multiple businesses under the Universal Wealth Preservation banner between 2008 and 2018, targeting pensioners across England with false promises of financial security.

Long distributed marketing materials door-to-door throughout Kent, Essex, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire, inviting potential clients to attend slick presentations at hotels nationwide.

Thousands signed up for services including trusts, wills and Lasting Power of Attorney arrangements, unaware their savings would be funnelled into risky overseas ventures without their knowledge or approval.

Many of those who fell victim were elderly or approaching retirement, drawn in by assurances of secure, high-yield investments placed in what Long described as ring-fenced, risk-free trusts.

Instead, their life savings were channelled into unsustainable high-risk schemes overseas without any consent. As the business model unravelled, clients found themselves locked out of their own funds.

In several instances, money earmarked for care home fees vanished entirely, with some individuals losing hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Prosecutor Charlene Sumnall told the court the victims were "overwhelmingly not wealthy people" but rather "careful, responsible people who had worked tirelessly hard over years to build up, often modest but extremely significant, capital."

She added that their age meant they simply did not have enough time remaining to recover what had been stolen from them.

While his victims faced financial devastation, Long bankrolled an extravagant lifestyle with their stolen funds.

The court heard he resided in a succession of expensive rental properties, boasting that one had previously belonged to a Premier League footballer.

Long splashed out on timeshares, holidays to Mexico, the United States and Dubai, and used the fraudulent proceeds to support family members, pay staff wages and prop up unrelated business interests.

His then-wife Melanie received a Land Rover purchased with victims' money, and five of her annual tax bills were settled using the same illicit funds.

Long had previously served eight months in prison in December 2018 for contempt of court after claiming he possessed little more than the clothes on his back and a bicycle.

His business associate Raymond Simpson, 79, was handed a five-year-four-month sentence for his role in the fraud.

Simpson, a formerly respected independent financial adviser, declined to attend his trial or sentencing, claiming medical reasons prevented him from leaving his home in Portugal.

A jury convicted him in his absence on two counts of fraud, and a warrant has been issued for his arrest.

The court heard Simpson was responsible for defrauding £785,380 through investments and a further £615,000 through land purchases in Spain.

Judge Gregory Perrins said Simpson had assisted Long by using money taken from trust accounts to invest in "a series of increasingly reckless investments".

The judge added that Simpson's motivation, like Long's, was "simple greed" and that he knew his actions were unlawful.

Sentencing Long, Judge Perrins said: "Your offending has taken a very heavy toll on the lives of so many and you should feel deeply ashamed."

He told the defendant his company had deliberately targeted elderly people and those of retirement age who were ordinary, hardworking individuals, and that he had knowingly abused their trust for his own ends.

The court considered 37 victim impact statements, including one from David Cunningham, who lost his late wife Christine's entire £140,000 savings after Long "sensed an easy prey".

Mr Cunningham, married for 42 years, said: "I feel ashamed, guilty about my incompetence... I have completely failed my wife and children, which I cannot undo."

Detective Chief Inspector Rob Burns of Eastern Region Special Operations Unit (ERSOU) described the case as "a cold-blooded betrayal of trust on an enormous scale".