Fraudster John Hirst convicted of Majorca investment scam

John Hirst, 61, pleaded guilty to fraud and money laundering in June and yesterday his wife and their financial adviser were convicted of involvement in the scam.

The trio made millions from the scam which Hirst and financial adviser Richard Pollett ran in Majorca between 2001 and 2009.

During a lengthy trial, Bradford Crown Court was told how the pair promised to make lucrative investments on behalf of ex-pats on the island, but instead used investors’ money to fund their own lavish lifestyles.

Hirst, who lived in Dewsbury and Mirfield but now lives in Brighouse, was jailed in the 1990s for conning ex-miners out of their redundancy money.

Instead of investing their money he splashed out on helicopter rides and privately educating his children. He was sentenced to two-and-a-half years for obtaining money by deception.

He will be sentenced for his role in the Spanish con on August 31 with his 62-year-old wife, Linda, and Pollett, 70, of Poole.

Linda Hirst was yesterday found guilty of money laundering and evasion of a liability by deception.

Pollett was convicted of conspiracy to defraud and making misleading statements.

Hirst’s son, Daniel, 36, from Leeds, and stepdaughter Zoe Waite, 36, from Surrey, had denied money laundering charges and were cleared by jurors.