A CALDICOT man who invested £3,000 in a pyramid scam after being told “nobody would lose”, has warned others not to join money-making schemes.

Father-of four David Gough said: “I was told it was backed by major solicitors and barristers in the Bristol area and it was all legal. Nobody would lose because the scheme would just keep going and going,” he said.

Mr Gough, who is a driving instructor, said he began making plans with his family who expected a £23,000 pay out once they reached the top of the chart.

Six women were convicted of carrying out a £21 million pyramid scheme – fleecing at least 10,000 victims, including a number from Gwent, yesterday at Bristol Crown Court.

They ran the “Give and Take” scam between May 2008 and April 2009, where victims were lured by the promise they would receive a £24,000 payout.

The group used mass emails and “champagne celebration nights” to encourage people to “beg, borrow or steal” £3,000 to invest.

Mr Gough warned others considering joining similar schemes saying he is still paying for the consequences four years on.

He added: “It makes you really angry that there are people out there who are prepared to do this to ordinary people who worked hard and haven’t got a lot of money.”

The women lured victims to parties where they asked them to invest £3,000 on the promise they could win up to £20,000.

Many victims lost up to £15,000 while the committee members profited by up to £92,000 each.

Chepstow councillor Armand Watts recognised the effect the scheme had on local communities: “People went into this with their family and friends so it caused a great divide in the community. I tried to dissuade people from joining.”

Eleven women became the first in the UK to be prosecuted for such a scheme, under new legislation in the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Act 2008.

Six women were sentenced at Bristol Crown Court and a further three will be sentenced in October. One woman was acquitted of promoting the scheme and two juries failed to reach a verdict on another woman facing the same charge. Yesterday Mary Nash, 65, Susan Crane, 68 and Hazel Cameron, 54 pleaded guilty to charges of operating and promoting the scheme.. They were due to face a retrial after a jury failed to reach a verdict on their cases in 2013.

Sally Phillips, 34, Jane Smith, 50 and Rita Lomas, 49 admitted promoting the scheme in 2012. Phillips received a three month suspended prison sentence, Smith a four-month suspended sentence and Lomas a four-and-a-half month suspended sentence.

Following a five-month trial in 2012, Laura Fox, 69, Jennifer Smith Hayes, 69, and Carol Chalmers were convicted of operating and promoting the scheme. Fox and Chalmers were jailed for nine months. No verdict was reached in the trial of Tracey Laurence, 60 and Rhalina Yuill, 34 was acquitted of promoting the scheme on her second trial.