Trevor Baines sentenced after trust theft

Trevor Baines and his wife Wendy are sentenced after being found guilty of theft

Manx millionaire Trevor Baines has been sentenced to two-and-a-half-years in prison after being found guilty of stealing nearly £900,000.

His wife Wendy, 52, was also sentenced at Douglas Courthouse to 18 months in prison for stealing £400,000.

The convictions stem back to a money laundering trial in 2009 when Baines, 71, was jailed for six years.

The court heard the Baineses stole money from the Hermitage Securities Limited Trust fund to pay legal fees.

They had managed the trust as corporate service providers on the Isle of Man.

Mr Baines' latest jail term will be served on top of his earlier six-year sentence.

The 'jet set'

During sentencing, Deemster David Turner said: "You had a reputation for being exceedingly wealthy and being part of the jet set. You lived a glamorous way of life but it was all based on a lie.

"You were not as wealthy as you pretended to be. You employed fashionable legal counsel from England that didn't come cheap."

He added that Trevor Baines stole the money through "confidence trickster methods."

The pair's advocate Jenny Holt, who represented them during the trial, was handed down a 12-month sentence suspended for two years for money laundering and falsifying documents.

When sentencing Holt the Deemster said: "You acted foolishly and criminally but without personal gain. You have ruined your professional career and it is with a heavy heart that I impose this."

Holt, from Union Mills, is planning to appeal against her sentence.