FORMER police officer Lyndon Fuller is behind bars today for swindling two of his friends to fund his lavish lifestyle.

Elderly brother and sister Ursula Antoniou and John Godfrey Lewis trusted the ex-director of Queens Park Rangers Football Club.

But he betrayed that trust by stealing almost £300,000 from them by persuading them to invest in his companies - and lying to them by telling them they were profitable.

Yesterday, Judge Christopher Llewellyn-Jones QC, sitting at Newport crown court, told him: "What is plain is that two persons trusted you and you gravely breached that trust. You lied and cheated them out of that money. It is inevitable a custodial sentence must follow for these offences."

Fuller, 58, who lived in Caerleon and Magor before moving to Yorkshire, was sent to prison for two years and nine months.

After the hearing, Mrs Antoniou, 74, said: "I'm just relieved it is all over now but with all that he done, he should have got a longer sentence.

"He has just ruined our lives but we have to try and move on. We can't let him win."

Detective Constable Martyn Edwards of the Gwent police fraud squad said: "Fuller thoroughly deserved the custodial sentence...he defrauded people in a ruthless and despicable fashion."

1st September 2008: We have been asked to point out that Lyndon Fuller did not at any point live in Magor as stated in this article.