A financial adviser who resorted to dishonesty after being hit by the 2008 banking crisis and cost his brother-in-law partner £50,000 has been jailed for two-and-a-half years.

Mark Watson submitted fraudulent policy applications for fictitious clients to obtain thousands of pounds in commission.

The 48-year-old, of Chapel Street, East Malling, admitted three sample fraud charges involving insurance companies Scottish Provident, Bright Grey Ltd and BUPA Health Insurance.

Maidstone Crown Court heard he went into business with Colin Holmes in June 2003 and set up the Vita Partnership, run from an address in Sevenoaks.

Prosecutor Martin Yale said the partnership was a member of a network called Sesame Credit Management, which was responsible for checking their compliance with regulations and reported directly to the Financial Services Authority.

Mr Yale said the partnership's work included submitting insurance applications to companies on behalf of clients.

The insurance company would pay the commission to Sesame, which would take a commission and the remainder would be paid to Vita.

Watson and Mr Holmes would withdraw the commission that related to their individual clients.

Mr Holmes resigned from Vita in March 2010 around the time he became aware Sesame was becoming concerned about the high number of "claw backs" by the partnership.

All were in relation to policies issued by Watson. As a result, the account with Sesame was often in debt.

It was eventually revealed that Watson had been submitting the fraudulent policy applications.

He would initially pay for the policy by direct debit for the first few months enabling him to receive the commission. He would then cancel the direct debit or let the policy lapse.

When the policies lapsed the insurance companies began to claw back their commission from Sesame, which sought to recover it from Vita.

The matter was investigated and Watson had his contract with Sesame terminated. He left Vita shortly afterwards.

It transpired there were 147 claw backs on the Vita account involving 10 different insurance companies.

Police arrested Watson at his then home in Borough Green in March 2011.

Mr Yale said Sesame had to repay a total of £358,622 in claw backs as a result of Watson's failed policies. He accepted £355,421 of that sum related to fraudulent transactions.

Sesame did receive some credits to offset a small amount and the debt on the Vita account in August/September 2010 was £226,000.

Mr Holmes received a demand for £217,000 from Sesame in August 2011 as a result of the fraudulent applications made by Watson.

As they had been partners Mr Holmes was also responsible for the sum. Sesame eventually accepted £50,000 in settlement, leaving them out of pocket.