A mentally ill man who tried to swindle giant Bermuda insurance company ACE Ltd. out of $20 million yesterday successfully reduced his five-year jail sentence.

Maxwell Sinclair Roberts, 42, pretended to be a company director at the international firm to obtain a cheque, but was caught red-handed after suspicious staff alerted the Police. Roberts was convicted after a Magistrates' Court trial in November 2006.

He launched the appeal in the Supreme Court, contending the magistrate who presided over his trial, Khamisi Tokunbo, had no authority to hand down a maximum five-year sentence. Yesterday his lawyer Elizabeth Christopher argued to Chief Justice Richard Ground that because Roberts was convicted of attempting to defraud ACE and not the full act, the maximum sentenced that could be imposed for the offence in Magistrates' Court was two-and-a-half years.

Ms Christopher also argued that her client's offence was not one which would be deemed to be in the worst of circumstances and did not deserve the maximum sentence.

Concurring with Ms Christopher on the sentencing power of the magistrate, Mr. Justice Ground concluded the magistrate legally had no authority to issue a five-year sentence, but likened the judgment to a genuine mistake.

Withstanding that, Prosecutor Nicole Smith then argued that the maximum two years imprisonment was appropriate for the offence — with Mr. Justice Ground ultimately agreeing.

In his ruling, he cited the criminality and premeditation of Roberts' scheme as well as his extensive background for stealing and dishonesty offences and said if the trial had been dealt with in the Supreme Court, he would have given Roberts the maximum five years.

During his original sentencing hearing, Roberts defended himself by claiming he had turned his life around while on remand in prison through writing a book — advising others how to protect against fraud.

Magistrate Tokunbo described him as "an actor with a massive criminal imagination" upon finding him guilty.

And the magistrate observed: "Society must be protected from him and his anti-social behaviour."

Roberts, who has already been in prison for some 18 months, suffers from a personality disorder according to psychiatric reports.