Fraudster gets five years' jail for 'heartless' crimes

A Katikati convicted fraudster regarded as a key figure in a scam to defraud financial institutions and people out of their homes and farms must remain in prison for at least three years and three months of a five-year three-month sentence.

Robert William Stirling, 53, admitted 17 charges of using a document to obtain a pecuniary advantage and using fraudulent documents in the Hamilton High Court in April.

In sentencing yesterday Justice Paul Heath described Stirling's actions, which left an elderly woman and her son homeless and defrauded two brothers of their farm, as "heartless" and motivated by "greed".

He said Stirling's offending was close to the most serious type of its kind, and he was at the "pinnacle of the group" of fraudsters.

Stirling was a leading figure in a group charged with a range of fraud-related offences stemming from Operation Allsorts which began in October 2002.

Around 30 others are accused of taking part in a ring of scams involving property worth up to $8 million in Hamilton and Bay of Plenty.

The defendants include lawyers, accountants and businessmen charged with 300 fraud-related counts after an investigation by Waikato police.

Police say members of the group posing as mortgage brokers gained the trust of people who were in financial difficulty before tricking them into sale and purchase agreements for their homes.

Crown prosecutor Jacinda Foster said Stirling targeted people who were financially desperate and inexperienced in business and financial transactions.