A FINANCIAL advisor who deceived four female clients out of more than £500,000 was jailed for five years yesterday.

Stephen Butterworth, 54, of Whitebridge Parkway, Gosforth, Newcastle, pleaded guilty at Teesside Crown Court to 11 counts of obtaining money by deception, one of obtaining the execution of a valuable security by deception, one of theft and one of false accounting.

Jeremy Hill Baker, prosecuting, said that in 1992, Butterworth was employed by the Halifax Building Society before being head-hunted by a number of major companies and eventually setting up his own business as an independent advisor.

But the court heard he had experienced a "dramatic change in circumstances" when he decided to invest in high risk entrepreneurial businesses, which subsequently failed to provide him with high returns.

In a gamble to bail himself out of trouble, Butterworth turned to four trusting clients, all from the North-East.

Mr Hill Baker said Butterworth secured large sums of cash from each of the women, deceiving them into believing it was for charitable and other secure investments.

Katherine Dunn, defending, said a remorseful Butterworth found himself in a situation where his debts were spiralling out of control and he used his clients' money in the hope they would be repaid.

Judge David Bryant sentenced Butterworth to five years in prison and told him he had deceived four women, one in her eighties and another in her nineties, who had put their complete trust in him.