A "despicable" independent financial adviser who stole £800,000 from the estates of three pensioners, including a woman from Bristol, was yesterday jailed for eight years.

Richard Nelson, who ran Nelson's of Cheltenham and had a Home Wills business, was said to have been motivated by "selfishness and greed" and had planned to steal the fortune when he prepared the wills.

The 45-year-old, who spent the cash on extravagant living, including an apartment in Marbella, designer watches and a public school education for his children, was unanimously found guilty by a jury of four charges of theft.

The cash had been bequeathed to charities and friends of the deceased, including around £50,000 to a Methodist church in Knowle.

The verdicts came after just one hour of deliberation.

Nelson, who lived in Shipton Oliffe near Cheltenham, was acquitted of a further charge of forgery.

Following the verdicts, officer in the case, detective constable Niki White of Avon and Somerset Constabulary's economic crime team, described Nelson as "despicable."

Reacting to his jail term, she said: "I'm thrilled for the families still alive and the people who have died and trusted Mr Nelson implicitly. Their wishes have been vindicated.

"I think what he has done is despicable, there's no other word for it, and he's spent it all on himself. I have seen the credit card statements.

"There was an apartment in Spain that staff who visited said was very nice, and three properties for rent.

"Most of it was spent on extravagant living. There were Cartier and Breitling watches, nice holidays, lots of jewellery, lots of eating out, nice suits and nice cars.

"He only declared £28,000 of his annual income to the tax man but clearly was living the lifestyle of someone earning a lot more."

She said the defendant had even put "ego boost" on an application form for a bank account on the Isle of Man when he was asked to state why he wanted it. DC White said she was alerted to Nelson's thievery after the niece of Edith Cowlin, Janet Jones, informed a minister of a church in Knowle, Bristol and the Clic Sargent cancer charity that they would be receiving around £50,000 each from her dead aunt's will.

However, the beneficiaries never received their bequest and contacted police.

DC White, a fraud specialist, added: "Once I looked at his bank accounts it was clear all was not as it seemed."

She said the case had been the biggest of its kind she had investigated.

Nelson sat white-faced in the dock as Judge Martin Picton jailed him for eight years.

"It's clear your intention was from the start, by the way the wills were prepared, to steal the money," he said.

"You were motivated by selfishness and greed.

"The intention was for the money to go to charities that take care of the sick and needy and to family and friends.

"It was a wholesale breach of trust."

The jury had heard during the six-day trial at Bristol Crown Court how Nelson had prepared the wills of pensioners Agnes Brinkworth, Edith Cowlin and Thomas Hicks so that he could steal from them after they had died.