ROUGH-CUT DEAL FOR VICTIMS OF DIAMOND SCAM

Diamond investment scammers Heritage Fine Assets promised returns of up to 20% a year. But only one of its 173 clients sold their diamonds at a profit. More typical was the investor who paid Heritage £132,000 for some rough-cut coloured diamonds but was only able to sell them for just £13,000.

The company, a trading name of Heritage FA Limited, was put into compulsory liquidation in 2016. Now its director, 63-year-old John Crowder of Woodford Green, Greater London, has been banned from running companies for 14 years.

Heritage made a profit of more than £1million by flogging the overpriced diamonds.