A MAN from Woodham Ferrers has been jailed for eight-years after pleading guilty to 34 theft and fraud offences.

Adam Woricker, 41, from Main Road, pleaded guilty to the offences at Chelmsford Crown Court yesterday.

Woricker received four years for theft from investors and four years for the thefts involving his employers and for forgery elements of the case. The sentences are to be served consecutively.

Dc Ian Bloomfield, who was the Essex Police Serious Economic Crime unit investigating officer, said: "Adam Woricker had a lucrative career in London but this was not enough for him.

"He became involved in an investment scheme, called a Ponzi scheme, but then played fast and loose with other people’s money, leaving some of them financially ruined.

"Woricker dishonestly hooked people into the scheme and because he was their accountant he knew how much they had available and took them for what he knew they were worth.

"He persuaded some people to spend their life savings or invest with him rather than pay off their mortgage.

"He stole over £2 million, and he spent cash on shopping sprees for designer clothes and jewellery for him and his wife and he drove high value cars.”

Dc Bloomfield added: "I hope this lengthy prison sentence for Woricker will give him time to reflect on his actions which left some of his victims penniless. I also hope it allows his victims a degree of closure and that they will be able to rebuild their lives and move on.”