AN accountant who cheated £650,000 out of close friends and farmers reeling from the effects of foot-and-mouth disease was sentenced to five years' imprisonment at Teesside Crown Court yesterday.

Thomas Alder, 54, who used to live at Eggleston, near Barnard Castle, County Durham, pleaded guilty to 15 counts of obtaining money by deception, and a charge of obtaining a pecuniary advantage by deception. Among the charges he admitted were one of stealing £150,000 and two of £100,000 each.

Robert Terry, prosecuting, said Alder took cash from nine clients, three of them farmers hit by the foot-and-mouth crisis, over six years from 1996. They became suspicious when they did not receive documentation of their investments or interest payments.

Mr Terry said: "Each of the clients was utterly devastated when they realised they had been conned. The defendant was utterly candid and agreed he had deceived every single person."

Simon Taylor, defending, said Alder's career had plummeted after an investment bungle with a US healthcare company in the early 1990s.

He was then a partner with Pace Financial Services and this incident led to the company splitting. Alder was left with a less lucrative part of the business, which soon began to lose money.

He plundered clients' accounts to get the money back and ploughed the cash into failed investments in computer firms and refurbishing his £400,000 house.

Mr Taylor said: "He has genuine remorse but these people have no chance of getting their money back."

A psychiatrist's report said Alder had suffered from clinical depression from the mid-1990s and was taking heavy medication which may have affected his judgement.

Judge Tony Briggs told him: "Your clients were people still reeling from foot-and-mouth culls. They had their stocks, their hopes and any sense of achievement wiped out.

"They were given this money and you actively sought it out. They put their heart and soul into their work and as a result of your actions, now face a very uncertain future."

The victims are unable to claim money back from a national compensation scheme run by the Institute of Chartered Accountants as he was excluded in 1997, after refusing to pay a £900 fine following a minor complaint.

A farmer who entrusted Alder with a compensation cheque said: "I feel totally sick. This was a lifetime's work and a betrayal of trust that we put in him.

"He always called you 'my friend' and he looked us straight in the eye as he was taking our money.

"My husband and I now have to have full-time jobs, when at our age we should be winding down."

Detective Constable Mick Moses, who was in charge of the case, said: "The sentence reflects the serious nature of the crime.

"He devastated these people's lives. Hopefully, this will be a deterrent to people who are thinking of going down a similar path."