A WORLD-renowned architect who was part of a trio who swindled a charity trust out of £3.5 million has had his "unduly lenient" jail sentence doubled.

Guy Pound, 71, formerly of Canford Cliffs, was the ringleader of the group who provided construction-related services to the Talbot Village Trust, a charity which provides homes for the elderly and needy in Dorset.

Pound, along with accomplices Peter Beard, 56, of Balfour Road, Brighton, and Anthony Green, 76, of Lockert Way, Kingston, Lewes, Sussex, defrauded the charity between 1985 and 1995 by invoicing for work not done and disguising inflated professional fees in the contracts.

Pound was jailed for three years at Southampton Crown Court on February 16 this year, while quantity surveyors Green and Beard were both given nine-month suspended sentences.

Yesterday, at the request of the attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, Lord Justice Judge, sitting at London's Criminal Appeal Court, reviewed the original three sentences and doubled Pound's to six years, saying his original term was "too lenient".

Earlier this week, Pound was told to pay £860,000 to the trust by January 4 or spend an extra two years in prison.

The sentences imposed on Beard and Green were left unchanged.

Lord Justice Judge, sitting with Mr Justice Moses and Mr Justice Royce, will give reasons for doubling Pound's sentence at a later date.

The trust owns land in Wallisdown, which it began to sell in the 1980s to finance charitable projects elsewhere.

First published: Oct 9