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Gordon Benville, a 50 year-old adviser of Wellington Parade, Walmer, Deal, pleaded guilty last week to 16 cases of fraud and deception following an investigation by the Kent Police serious crime unit.

Mr Benville, who traded as Kingsfield in Deal, obtained more than £440,000 through deception. He was said to be well known in the local community and was a former Royal Marine bandsman who served on the Royal Yacht Britannia as the queen's pianist, was arrested in October 2007 after two clients turned to the police with their concerns about his actions.

It soon emerged the fraudster, who is due to be sentenced next month, had cheated more friends and associates out of cash when the investigation kicked off, according to Kent Police.

Martin Bradbeer, a fraud investigator for Kent Police serious economic crime unit, said following the initial arrest the police were granted permission to access Mr Benville's accounts.

He said: "We saw vast sums of money moving in and out, which we thought was unusual for a mortgage broker.

"Normally he arranges a mortgage and gets a fee but these were tens of thousands of pounds. We followed the money trail and we discovered there were a lot of people who had lost money."

Kent Police found Mr Benville would submit a mortgage application for his friends but would then offer to complete the majority of the forms himself.

Mr Benville would then apply for a larger loan than the client had requested and blame the extra funds received on an administrative error.

In order to amend the error, Mr Benville would ask the victim to write a cheque so he could repay the mortgage lender the additional funds but would in fact pocket the money himself.

However in one case Mr Benville banked money one victim aged in her mid 70s had asked him to invest for her grandchildren.

The charges related to nine victims, according to Mr Bradbeer, with the majority of offences taking place between August 2006 and September 2007.

The victims ranged in age from mid 40s to mid 70s and were described by Mr Bradbeer as not financially savvy and in some cases "vulnerable".

However Nigel Pilkington, head of the complex case work unit for the Crown Prosecution Service in the south east, which brought the case against Mr Benville to court, said there was an isolated offence committed in 2001.

He said: "It was like a house of cards. It all disintegrated once the investigation started off.

"Two of the offences were actually committed while he was on police bail. So while he was being investigated about his financial position he then went out and committed more offences for very large sums, more than £100,000."

Mr Pilkington said Mr Benville would take advantage of the fact his victims were well known to him and trusted him with their financial affairs.

He said: "That was his modus operandi. His idea was to go to people he knew to obtain money because he would be able to fob them off with lies and deceit."

Mr Bradbeer said Mr Benville would then perpetrate further crimes in order to repay the losses when he ran out of excuses to his friends. He said: "He had a lot of failed ventures with friends where he borrowed money. He borrowed money and could not repay. He was robbing Peter to pay Paul."

The FSA banned Mr Benville in October when it was notified of his arrest. However the watchdog was unable to confirm whether supervisory officers had visited Mr Benville since he became regulated in October 2004 or whether any concerns had been uncovered by its scrutiny.

The Financial Services Compensation Scheme declared Mr Benville's firm in default in May and has started paying claims made by his clients.

KEY POINTS

* Gordon Benville, 50, of Wellington Parade, Walmer, Deal, pleaded guilty last week to 16 cases of fraud and deception at Canterbury Crown Court.

* Mr Benville was struck off by the FSA in October 2007.