Corrupt Hbos financier "sold his soul" in £245m loans scam, judge says as he sentences gang 

David Mills and Alison Mills
David Mills and Alison Mills were jailed for 15 years and three-and-a-half years respectively for their part in the scam

A group of corrupt financiers who carried out a £245 million loans scam and squandered the profits on high-end prostitutes and luxury holidays have been jailed.

Consultant David Mills, 60, bribed Hbos manager Lynden Scourfield, 54, with designer watches, sex parties and "boys' jollies".

The perks were a reward in exchange for loans which allowed Mills and his associates to profit from high consultancy fees.

Scourfield was jailed for 11 years and three months while Mills was given 15 years at Southwark Crown Court on Thursday.

Judge Martin Beddoe said Scourfield "sold his soul" to Mills in exchange for "sex, for luxury trips ... for bling and for swag".

Lynden Scourfield was bribed with designer watches and sex parties Credit: Central News

Michael Bancroft, 73, was jailed for 10 years, Mark Dobson, 56, for four-and-a-half years, and John Cartwright, 72, for three-and-a-half years for their various roles in the fraud between 2003 and 2007.

Mills's wife Alison, 51, also played a major role in the corruption and was sentenced to three and a half years.

Some of the victims lost their companies, livelihoods and even their homes as a result of the scam.

Paul and Nikki Turner, from Cambridge, were ignored for years when they tried to report what was going on after their publishing company, Zenith, was run into the ground in the scam.

"They defrauded us, denied for 10 years that the fraud had happened, ignored the debt from the fraud and tried to evict us 22 times in order to cover up the fraud," Mrs Turner said outside court.

"It's a huge success for us that the trial has gone on."

She added: "The other victims have gone through terrible things, they have gone through the loss of businesses and lost homes.

"Other people lost everything, including marriages broken up, because of this."