Guppy sentence appeal fails

Darius Guppy, 29, lost his appeal against his five-year jail sentence yesterday but won a massive reduction in his fines.

The Court of Appeal rejected argument that the prison term was excessive, but cut fines of pounds 539,000 to pounds 227,000 and converted them into a compensation order in favour of the Lloyd's insurers defrauded by Guppy when they paid pounds 1.8m for a bogus gems robbery. His partner Benedict Marsh, had his five-year sentence cut to four years.

The two were sentenced at Snaresbrook Crown Court last March for conspiracies to defraud, steal and commit false accounting, and VAT offences.