A former finance boss who defrauded vulnerable local investors out of nearly £3million has been jailed for seven years.

50 year old Christopher Byrne - the ex MD of Lumiere Wealth - has been sentenced by Jersey's Royal Court for a raft of financial misconduct offences.

He's also been disqualified from being concerned directly or indirectly in the management of a company for 12 years.

Byrne was convicted in September following a four-week long trial.

He was found guilty of 14 counts of fraudulently inducing 13 of his clients to invest in the Guernsey based Providence Fund.

He encouraged his victims to buy into the fund, causing them to lose around £2.7million.

The police and Jersey Financial Services Commission says they're grateful to those victims who helped in prosecuting Mr Byrne and hope his conviction will encourage islanders to ask qusestions of their financial advisor about investments and to carefully read documents supplied to them before investing.