THE Hampstead estate agent who conned almost £500,000 from a mentally ill client could be behind bars for as little as two years

THE Hampstead estate agent who conned almost £500,000 from a mentally ill client could be behind bars for as little as two years.

Malcolm Green was sentenced to five years for swindling schizophrenic Marshall Davis, but will serve half of his sentence in prison.

And, as Green has already been in jail for five months on remand, he could be back on the streets as early as 2010.

Gem Shevket, his co-defendant and employee at Greenfields estate agents on Heath Street, was given the same sentence.

A jury found the pair guilty last month of conspiracy to defraud, two counts of theft and one of obtaining money by deception.

Green, who lived at Gainsborough House, was also convicted of one count of obtaining money by deception and one of attempting to obtain money by deception. But he was cleared of a further deception count.

Shevket, from Newsholme Drive, Grange Park, was also found guilty of possessing criminal property and obtaining a money transfer by deception.

The fraud involved persuading Mr Davis to give them £200,000 on the promise of a £500billion return on a property investment as well as taking shares, gold coins, a rare stamp and jewellery from him.

Read this Thursday's Ham&High for more on the case.