A DISGRACED estate agent who stole more than £350,000 from clients to fund a 'lavish lifestyle' has been told to pay back just £1.

Clifford Wheatcroft set up a letting agency that offered a 'middleman' service to landlords that included finding tenants and collecting deposits and rent.

The money should have been passed on to the landlords but instead Wheatcroft ended up using it to keep up his expensive standard of living after his business began to fail.

He was declared bankrupt in 2013 and it was then discovered he had not placed the tenants' money in the secure Government tenancy deposit protection scheme.

Several landlords found they were owed several months-worth of rent.

Wheatcroft, 35, was interviewed by police and told officers he got into financial difficulty during 2012 and started using the deposits and rents to keep up with other payments.

But financial enquiries showed he spent £357,260 from the company account on personal items including holidays.

In 2018 he was given a 17-month sentence suspended for two years and ordered to carry out 250 hours of unpaid work after admitting eight counts of theft.

Due to the collapse of his company, Real-Est8 Property Solutions based in Bournemouth, the Crown Prosecution Service has been unable to claim back the money he stole.

Instead Wheatcroft will have to pay just £1 under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

He will only have to pay more as and when he 'comes into money' that includes a lottery win, inheritance or legitimate employment.

At Bournemouth Crown Court judge Stephen Climie QC, warned Wheatcroft that the Proceeds of Crime order would be with him 'for the rest of his life'.

Mr Climie said: "Should he receive a boost in his financial circumstances it will be allowed for some of the money to be reclaimed to pay off the debt.

"He is not getting away with just paying £1 and it's important that is known at a public hearing.

"A change of finances could include a chance win, inheritance or also legitimate employment."

Detective Constable Mandy Brimicombe, of Dorset Police, said: "As with these types of financial investigations where there are a number of victims, the case was lengthy and complex.

"Wheatcroft used his position to fund his lavish lifestyle, with many victims losing thousands of pounds."