Investors stripped of their life savings in the wake of the Gary Hexley scandal have called for the shamed financier to be jailed.

Tamworth pensioner Bill Shackleford and fellow investors Gerry and Mary Lamming, from Sutton Coldfield, demanded a jail term for Hexley following this week’s verdicts at Birmingham Crown Court.

Hexley, who had previously left creditors out of pocket to the tune of more than £2 million, was convicted of duping elderly investors following a five-week trial.

He and co-defendant John Cooper were found guilty of six charges and two charges respectively under the Financial Services and Markets Act. Hexley had netted over £74,000 in commission and Cooper more than £6,000 when they were not authorised to give financial advice.

The crash of Hexley’s Sutton Coldfield-based firm Greenfield International in 2010 had left 237 creditors, including many elderly West Midland investors, with debts of £2,077,426.

Hexley, now 51, had been made bankrupt with liabilities of nearly £1 million and banned and censured by the FSA, and was later disqualified as a director for nine years for misusing more than £500,000 handed over for investment by the elderly.

After the verdicts were delivered following eight and a half hours’ deliberations by the jury, Judge Michael Chambers QC told the defendants: “You have been convicted of serious matters. You should be under no illusion as to the likely sentence. Those who trusted you were deceived, including elderly people who were vulnerable.”

But Bill Shackleford, who finally won £30,000 compensation after a two-year battle, said: “I want to see Hexley jailed and I feel that he deserves a substantial term. He has caused untold misery to many hard-working people and deprived them of a better retirement.

“But this trial has not addressed his activities before his ban by the FSA and before Greenfield International collapsed. It does not address all those people who are still desperately trying to pursue a claim through the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

“Quite a few of them are in their 80s, some of them are now deceased and goodness knows what effect this has all had on the health of those still fighting.”

Fellow investor Gerry Lamming, 78, of Walmley, who fought for over five years for compensation after he faced the loss of a five-figure sum, said after the case: “I agree wholeheartedly with the Judge’s comments.

“These offences deserve a custodial sentence, even if it is only to prevent other people from carrying out these sort of activities.

“From myself and my wife Mary’s personal point of view, this has caused us so many years of time-wasting and emotional anguish, as well as financial losses.

“This is the end of a long trail which has caused us a great deal of heartache. Both myself and my wife have devoted many hours of our time to arguing our case with the Financial Services Authority and the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.”

Another investor Bryan Parkes, 81, of Sutton Coldfield, finally won more than £12,500 compensation in January 2013 after being rejected four times. He said at the time: “This has been going on for nearly two and a half years.”

Both defendants had denied all charges with Hexley, of Barley Fields, Barton-under-Needwood, near Lichfield, blaming ‘evil’ banks for his cash problems. He admitted that he had failed to mention to clients that he had been made bankrupt in 2010.

Hexley was cleared of two charges and Cooper, 56, of Caversham Place, Sutton Coldfield, three.

In his only interview with the media in August 2011, Hexley said: “I know it is an awful situation that I have created. It is terrible. I cannot sleep through how it ended up. I would happily talk to them (creditors).”

But he later pulled out of a meeting with investors and told Bill Shackleford by text message: “I cannot make it due to the excessive stress of the whole Greenfield situation.”

The Judge adjourned sentencing to November 14 for reports and both men have been remanded on conditional bail.