A church pastor from Hazlemere who fled to South Africa to avoid being sentenced after conning nearly £250,000 off his congregation has been jailed after being extradited.

Bruce Scott left the country on the day he was due to be sentenced, having been convicted of ten counts of fraud and deception by jurors at Reading Crown Court.

He was due to be sentenced on January 16 last year but fled to South Africa. The 51-year-old, formerly of Overdales, was caught in Johannesburg in March and returned to Britain following extradition, finally receiving his prison sentence on Friday, May 15.

Scott was sentenced in his absence by Judge Richard Parkes at Reading Crown Court to four years in jail. Judge Parkes added an extra eight months to this sentence at Friday's hearing, which took place at Salisbury Crown Court.

Scott, a former pastor of the Covenant Church of the Cross in Farnham Royal, was convicted of duping people into giving him large sums of money between 1998 and 2012.

The swindle brought in a total of £248,000 from nine victims, which included a private school.

Jurors were told one woman handed father-of-four Scott £41,000 and ended up losing her home in South Africa as a result of his scam.

The investigating officer at the time, the now retired James Deans of the Economic Crime Unit, said: "Bruce Scott has caused untold misery through his fraudulent acts and he has compounded his offending by attempting to escape justice and fleeing to South Africa.

"I know that the many victims of his crimes will be delighted that Thames Valley Police has located Scott and brought him back to the UK to serve his sentence."