A 60-year-old man has been sentenced to nine years in prison for running a fake investment scheme that cheated seven people out of £882,000 in Oxford, Oxfordshire. Neil Stafford, from Doncaster, was sentenced at Oxford Crown Court on 2 March 2026 after a long investigation by Thames Valley Police.
Between June 2011 and December 2014, Stafford used his position as a company director to trick victims into giving him money by pretending he was an Oxford University professor with high-level business connections. Instead of investing the cash as promised, he spent the total amount to fund his own expensive lifestyle.
The case took over a decade to reach a conclusion, with Stafford first being arrested in June 2015 and later charged in February 2023. In addition to his prison sentence, he has been banned from acting as a company director for the next 15 years.
Detectives noted that Stafford exploited the trust of his victims through a scheme that specifically targeted friends and family. Local officers are using the outcome to remind residents to be careful with their money and to report any suspicious financial activity to help prevent similar crimes.
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