A “DESPICABLE” financial adviser from Oxfordshire who devised three wills so he could steal a total of £800,000 was yesterday jailed for eight years.

Richard Nelson, left, was said to have been motivated by “selfishness and greed” and planned to steal the money when he prepared the wills.

The 45-year-old, who spent the money on extravagant living, including an apartment in Marbella, designer watches and private school fees for his children, was found guilty by a crown court jury of four charges of theft.

Nelson, of Manor Court, Carterton, who ran a firm in Cheltenham, was acquitted of a further charge of forgery.

Outside court, Dc Niki White, of Avon and Somerset Police, said: “I think what he has done is despicable – there’s no other word for it.”

She began an investigation after the niece of Edith Cowlin, Janet Jones, told a church in Knowle, Bristol, and the Clic Sargent cancer charity they would be receiving about £50,000 each from her dead aunt’s will. However, they never received the bequests and contacted police.

Bristol Crown Court heard Nelson had prepared the wills of pensioners Agnes Brinkworth, Edith Cowlin and Thomas Hicks so that he could steal from them after they died.

Giving evidence in his trial, Nelson said: “My understanding was as the executor of an estate according to probate law, I became the owner of that estate.”