Adviser jailed for stealing £130k from clients

A financial adviser has been jailed for three years after admitting 13 counts of theft from his pensioner clients.

Michael Hirst was described as "jaw-droppingly callous" and guilty of a "pitiless course of offending" by a judge as he was sentenced at Cardiff Crown Court, the Daily Mail reports. Hirst's offences, which were carried out in a five-year period from August 2007 according to the paper, saw him steal thousands from clients' life and pensions savings. According to the financial services register, Hirst joined Wales-based advisory firm HHPG as a trainee investment adviser in January 2006. He gained the CF30 customer controlled function in November 2007, relinquishing it when he left the b...