A band of middle-aged women who fleeced thousands of investors in a pyramid scheme which generated £21million have been jailed.
The group - aged between 33 and 68 - each pocketed up to £92,000 in less than a year.
Their victims - the vast majority women - were duped into putting their money into pyramid schemes called 'Give and Take' and 'Key to a Fortune'.
They were told that by spending £3,000 and recruiting others they would get guaranteed payouts of £24,000.
When the flow of new members dried up the pyramid leaders continued accepting money knowing there was little chance of the scheme paying out.
Over 10,000 people invested in the scheme, which started in Bristol and spread to Devon, other parts of the West Country and South Wales, handing over up to £21 million.
But a court heard the scheme was 'bad news' and destined to fail and thousands lost their money.
Eleven women faced charges in two separate trials in the first prosecutions of their kind in Britain under new consumer protection regulations.
It can now be reported that three were each jailed for nine months in April last year after they were convicted of operating and promoting the scam.
They were Laura Fox, 69, the mastermind of the Give and Take scheme, Jennifer Smith-Hayes, 69, the treasurer, and Carol Chalmers, 68, who organised venues.
Each of these women have now served their sentences and been released.
Sally Phillips, 34, pleaded guilty to promoting the scheme and received a three month jail term suspended for two years and a three month curfew.
The remaining three women, Susan Crane, 68, Mary Nash, 65, and Hazel Cameron, 54, pleaded guilty to promoting and operating the scheme, and were handed nine months behind bars.
Nash was the charts coordinator, Crane the committee secretary and sub treasurer and Cameron the games coordinator.
Rita Lomas, 49, and Jane Smith, 50, had earlier pleaded guilty to promoting and got four month and four-and-a-half month jail terms respectively, both suspended for two years.
Miles Bennett, prosecuting, told the opening of the trial last year: "We are all here because these defendants and others named were operating and promoting a pyramid scheme or pyramid promotional scheme.
"Simply put, they're bad news. People always lose out, the majority of people lose out.
"What was being operated from May 26, 2008 to April 29, 2009, was a pyramid promotional scheme where people were invited to give #3,000 with the promise they would receive #24,000.
"Wouldn't it be wonderful of life was that simple? But it's a bit of a scam."
He added: "This wasn't a bunch of ladies sitting around playing bridge.
"This was a committee and Laura Fox ruled these nights with a rod of iron."
Mr Bennett said such a scheme would have grown to the extent that to be sustainable it would need the total population of the UK, including every man, woman and child.
The court heard how 'Give and Take' generated in the region of £20 million for its members across the south west of England.
Mr Bennett said the defendants, all from Bristol and Somerset, promoted their pyramid through mass emails and "pamper" parties where they would seduce others to join.
New recruits were enticed with photos of the scheme's successful participants leafing through piles of money or reclining in cash-filled bath tubs.
Some of them would even borrow money and create new places within the system under false names or the names of family members.
The promise was that once the payout target was reached the pyramid would split into two and the process would start again.
He added: "It is clear that, blinded by the possibility of riches and quick bucks people were quite prepared to ignore the bleeding obvious pitfalls of a pyramid scheme."
The case involved thousands upon thousands of pages of evidence with almost 300 witness statements taken and over 5,000 items seized.
The defendants were:
Laura Fox, 68, of East Harptree, Somerset.
Jennifer Smith-Hayes, 68, of Bishopsworth, Bristol.
Carol Chalmers, 67, of Weston-super-Mare, Somerset Rita Lomas, 48, of Whitchurch, Bristol.
Jane Smith, 49, of Bishopsworth, Bristol.
Hazel Cameron, 53, Chew Stoke, Somerset.
Susan Crane, 67, of Bishopsworth, Bristol.
Mary Nash, 64, also of Bishopsworth.
Sally Phillips, 33, of Hengrove, Bristol.
