Taymouth Castle

London lawyer Stephen Jones pleaded guilty at Southwark Crown Court last week to two charges relating to the misappropriation of $14m (£11.4m) and $2m (£1.6m) after his former clients, Discovery Land Company, funded a private prosecution.

He had persuaded the company to send the cash in tranches after claiming that the first payments had been embroiled in red tape and anti-money laundering procedures. The US investors effectively paid twice for the hotel but Mr Jones refused to return the first instalments.

Mr Jones, 63, was previously sentenced to 14 months for four counts of contempt of court for refusing to disclose the names of two recipients of the cash and breaching undertakings to return the money and explain what had happened to it.

He very nearly escaped justice, however, after the police and Crown Prosecution Service declined to investigate the case — despite the judge in the contempt case. Mr Justice Zacaroli, sending the papers to the CPS for their attention.

The Arizona investors who had raised the civil action that resulted in the first imprisonment of Mr Jones persisted, however, and spent £4 million to bring a successful private prosecution against the solicitor who qualified in 1986 and presented himself as a devout Christian.

It is believed that he perpetrated numerous frauds over the years and looted trusts while enjoying a luxury life-style in his homes in London and New York.

The former wife of Scottish businessman Scot Young, who was found impaled on railings outside his London flat after his dealing with Russian oligarchs went sour, has also alleged that Mr Jones assisted her husband in hiding millions of pounds in assets.