The sentence handed down to Limerick financial consultant Mr Pat Foote yesterday is the second jail sentence in three years to be given to a businessman who defrauded his clients.

In May 1996 a Dublin broker Mark Synnott was jailed for four years and three months by Judge Cyril Kelly in the Dublin Circuit Court. The judge said Synnott had "wreaked havoc on persons of elderly age and in vulnerable situations".

Investors had placed £2.3 million with the broker, whose business collapsed in 1991. Synnott had pleaded guilty to three courts of fraud, and the state did not proceed with a further 36 counts. His was the first successful prosecution for "fraudulent trading", which carries a maximum sentence of seven years.

More than 100 investors, most of them elderly, had given Synnott savings of between £40,000 and £150,000. A thalidomide victim had handed over his £70,000 compensation payment.

In Synnott's case the court was told that some investors' funds were used to pay dividends to others. However funds had also been used to pay for "high living", including the buying of a stud farm in Co Kildare. As in the case heard in Limerick yesterday, the court in the Synnott case heard that his marriage had broken down and his wife and children now lived away from him.

In 1995 the former Irish Press solicitor, Elio Malocco, was jailed for five years on fraud charges involving £68,500, money which had been given to him by the Press group to deal with libel cases. Some cases have still to come before the courts. In August 1996 a Dublin broker, Mr Tony Taylor, went missing and his group of companies collapsed, leaving a number of investors £1.7 million out of pocket. Mr Taylor's affairs are being investigated by the gardai. His current whereabouts are unknown.