The Supreme Court building in Hobart.

A FORMER ANZ Bank financial adviser has been jailed for stealing nearly $1 million from two elderly clients.

Kenneth David Drake, 60, appeared in the Supreme Court in Hobart for sentencing today after pleading guilty to two counts of stealing.

Justice David Porter said Drake took $925,085 from a 94-year-old woman and $15,850 from a 71-year-old man.

Both were clients he had known for more than 20 years.

Justice Porter said Drake had complete control over the finances of both victims.

He said that between April 2009 and December last year Drake forged signatures to move money from the two clients’ accounts to his own on a total of 64 occasions.

His crimes were discovered when the Public Trustee took over the woman’s finances in August last year.

The judge said Drake was interviewed by police in February and admitted his crimes.

He said the offences arose from a personal debt crisis but he could not explain where the money had gone.

Justice Porter said the elderly woman Drake stole from felt hurt, distressed and betrayed, while the other victim was emotionally upset and had suffered deteriorating health.

He said the offences began after Drake’s marriage broke down and he turned to alcohol and gambling.

Describing the offences as devious and grave breaches of the trust placed in him by his clients, Justice Porter jailed Drake for six and a half years and ordered he not be eligible for parole until he had served half his sentence.

The court heard the two victims would have their losses reimbursed by the bank.