THE DAUGHTER and niece of Fuller's victims, who was also the former best friend of the financial adviser and his wife, has welcomed his conviction.

Helena Payne, a 45-year-old Newport nurse, has also spoken of her trauma at Fuller's betrayal after he persuaded her mother Ursula Antoniou to part with £100,000 used to "buy" false shares.

Mrs Antoniou used to run the Church House Inn and Anton's restaurant and the Elm Tree in St Bride's with her late husband, who was popularly known as Anton.

Fuller then turned his attention to her brother Godfrey Lewis, 67, who suffers ill-health and lives in sheltered accommodation in Llanelli. Mrs Payne said Fuller was a good family friend and someone they had known for 30 years.

"We were distraught," she said. "We had liked Lyndon - he was fun, kind and he seemed generous and that he would bend over backwards to help."

He and his wife became close friends of Mrs Payne and her husband: "They used to invite us over for dinner and they would cook for us. He was always friendly and seemed genuine.

"We went on holiday together to Jersey with him and his wife in 2000 to celebrate that we had known each other for 25 years. We trusted him implicitly.

"Lyndon had a phenomenal lifestyle with the BMW, Rolex watches, first-class holidays in Florida. He always had the nice clothes - Pierre Cardin and she had Karen Millen.

"It was the jet-set lifestyle he wanted - he wanted to be a big player up there with the big boys and he used to drive around in his BMW with the number plate QPR1 - he was an avid QPR fan."

Mrs Payne said the family was unable to recover any money because Fuller had de-registered himself as a financial adviser.

She said their bitter experience makes it difficult to trust people now. "It makes you become bitter and twisted and we will never have our money anywhere other than a bank again.

Mrs Payne said: "It was all about money and greed and I think he was influenced and corrupted by money.

"He knew how ill my father was at the time and there he was in the next room ripping my mother off. I think he is sick and he has no conscience. "We are over the moon with the conviction and relieved that my mother and uncle won't have to give evidence. We are also pleased that he has admitted his guilt."

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.