An ageing conman who masterminded a million-pound swindle has been jailed for three years.

Architect Guy Pound, 71, helped siphon off vast amounts of money from a charity during an 11-year scam.

Colluding with quantity surveyors Anthony Green, 76, from Kingston, near Lewes, and Peter Beard, 56, of Balfour Road, Brighton, Pound fleeced about £1 million for himself.

The architect was the main player in the con, which prompted a 14-month court case, one of the longest in legal history. The elderly trio were likened at one point to the cast of sit-com Last Of The Summer Wine.

A jury had unanimously convicted them of defrauding the Talbot Village Trust by charging excessive fees between January 1985 and March 1996.

The scam revolved around six building projects costing £15 million.

It began when the trust, founded by 19th Century philanthropist Georgina Talbot, started selling land for development in Bournemouth. The six projects included a care home, university halls of residence, a housing estate and road developments.

Pound, Green and Beard conspired with the trust's agent Harry Groome to win the contracts. Mr Groome then turned a blind eye as they filed exorbitant fees for the work.

Pound used his ill-gotten gains to pay for holidays, a cruise and a large detached home on the Isle of Man, where he lived in tax exile.

Judge Burford, QC, at Southampton Crown Court yesterday, said he had no choice but to send Pound to prison.

He said: "Through six projects, you received £3,330,000 which was substantially more than you were entitled to. The prosecution's case was that you were entitled to just over £1 million.

"There is no doubt you did much other work for the trust before 1985. I accept you were not paid fully but it would take weeks if not months to ascertain how much you were entitled to."

Despite the fraud, the judge acknowledged Pound's work on the six projects was of a high quality and earned the trust a "massive windfall".

Jailing Pound for three years, the judge said: "An offence of this seriousness is such that only a custodial penalty would be justifiable.

"If you were not 71, and had you not done substantial and excellent work for the trust, it would be for much longer."

John Carmichael, defending, said it was Pound's reputation as a good designer and developer that prompted the trust to commission him.

Beard and Green, who were working for Brighton firm AE Green and Partners, were given a nine-month suspended jail sentence on March 26.

Beard was estimated to have taken £186,000 out of the trust while Green made £144,900.

Due to difficulties in estimating how much Pound had benefited, the judge ruled it was approximately £1 million.

After the hearing, Dorset CID's Detective Sergeant Bill Bryson said: "The investigation and trial took a long time because there were thousands of exhibits and thousands of documents to get through."

Mr Groome died before he could be brought to justice but the jury heard he received £15,000 for his involvement.

A hearing to determine how much money should be confiscated from the trio and how much compensation should be awarded to the trust was set for August 9.