Two men have been jailed for their involvement in an “elaborate pensions scam” stealing almost £1m from their victims.

According to Dorset Police, Anthony Locke and Ray King were jailed for five years and three years, respectively, for undertaking a ‘pension liberation’ scam between September 2013 and April 2014 which saw them accrue a pension pot of £971,530.

Locke was found guilty of 23 counts of fraud by false representation and three counts of money laundering, while King was found guilty of 14 counts of fraud, furthermore a timetable was laid out for the recovery of the funds from the defendants.

The scam involved both Locke and King misleading 16 victims into transferring their pension pots into an arrangement which would allow them to access half of their cash before they turned 55, while promising that the other half would be re-invested.

Accessing your pension pot before the age of 55 would attract an income liability of 55 per cent on the entire amount.

Dorset Police investigating officer, Paul Sullivan, said: “Locke was the architect of a callous and sophisticated fraud with King as his employee. Between September 2013 and April 2014 Locke obtained almost £1 million from various pension companies, which represented the ‘pension pots’ of the victims in this case.

Locke however chose to spend the money funding holidays and reportedly spent £230,000 on buying two Audis, a Mercedes, Aston Martin, Porsche and a Lamborghini Gallardo.

"The sentences imposed today send out a clear message to fraudsters who perpetrate these types of offences”, Sullivan added.

Sullivan believes that the victims may face further financial penalties as the government attempts to recover the lost tax revenue.

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