A “WICKED and devious” Taunton man who conned investors out of over £800,000 to fund his gambling habit has been jailed for eight years.

Nigel Fisher, 49, who moved to Lichfield Avenue, Torquay, two years ago, was found guilty of six counts of fraud at his trial at Bristol Crown Court.

Judge Michael Longman described his crimes from 2009 to 2012 as “wicked and devious”.

Fisher duped two investors into parting with £740,000 to support an ailing children’s care home run by Carefuture (Somerset) in Bridgwater, who are no longer trading.

He falsely claimed the home was owed money by social services and prevented investors from entering the home by claiming that criminal record checks needed to be carried out.

Although some of the money Fisher accrued was used for staff wages, he spent over £90,000 on bets at a Bridgwater bookmakers.

After Fisher’s investors became suspicious, he swindled other investors into supporting the purchase of German manufactured vacuum cleaners for contract cleaning of hotels – investigations later showed the contracts never existed and he only bought one cleaner.

Fisher’s final victims were an elderly farmer and retired doctor who wanted solar panels installed on their property.

He told them he knew an installer and they paid him a deposit of £10,000 which he claimed he paid to the builder who then disappeared with the cash.

Fisher told police the only details he had of the builder was on a mobile phone he had lost down a drain, although he changed his story in court, where he claimed his dog had chewed the phone and dropped it in a water bowl.

In his defence, Fisher denied having told the victims that monies were owed or that he had cleaning contracts.

He said that money was used to support an ailing business, including payment of staff wages and other costs.

After the hearing Kirstie Cogram, manager of Avon and Somerset Police’s financial investigation and economic crime team, said: “This sentence shows that the courts take white collar crime seriously.

“It is not a victim-less crime, with some of Fisher’s victims losing their life savings, which will have a detrimental impact on them for many years to come.

“Fisher’s victims were told elaborate lies over a continuous period of time and were left feeling suspicious and sceptical.”