YORK financial adviser Peter Barlow was today awaiting a possible prison sentence after being found guilty of eight theft charges.

Leeds Crown Court heard how he had plundered the inheritance left by his farmer client.But Barlow has been cleared of stealing £299,000 from a former millionaire caught in a love triangle.

Relatives of deceased Brandsby landowner Alec Ingham told the jury at Leeds they received "not a penny" from a trust set up after he sold his two farms near Easingwold.

This was, the jury decided, because Barlow, acting as trustee, had stolen £96,000 from the trust over 18 months.

As the foreman said guilty eight times, 57-year-old Barlow, from Tadcaster Road, Copmanthorpe, hung his head.

"These are serious offences, for which you are likely to receive a substantial sentence of imprisonment," Judge Simon Grenfell told Barlow at the end of the seven-week trial.

The guilty verdicts were welcomed by Ian Paterson, of Yearsby, who is related to the Ingham family.

"For the people who suffered, I am glad there is some justice," he said.

Barlow was acquitted of stealing £299,000 from retired director of Hazelwood PLC and former millionaire Edward Hickson.

Barlow said in evidence he had an arrangement with the businessman that he would pay it back. Mr Hickson claimed there was no agreement.

"I am not going to lose any sleep over it," he said of the not guilty verdict, which visibly stunned him.

The jury was hung on charges of stealing the value of 60,000 shares from Mr Hickson and £5,000 from a trust he set up. The charges were left on file.

Barlow denied all 11 charges against him.

Mr Hickson has made Barlow bankrupt in a bid to get his money and is suing TSB over a joint account in his and Barlow's name through which the £299,000 passed.

When he made the theft allegations he ended a close friendship between the pair that began in the 1970s.

"I really did think he was a super chap," Mr Hickson said. "I really thought the world about him. It shatters one's confidence."

Barlow had comforted him during his "lot of heartache" when he was caught emotionally between his wife for 30 years, Audrey, and concert pianist Annette Servedea.

Worth about £8 million when he left Hazelwood Foods, Mr Hickson is now worth about £300,000 to £400,000 for various reasons.

The judge commended DC Melanie Spanton, of North Yorkshire Fraud Squad, for her "very high quality investigation" during the four-year fraud inquiry.

Her devotion to duty included giving evidence when she was eight months pregnant and sitting through the entire seven-week trial to advise prosecution barrister Andrew Dallas.

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