A group of "greedy" women have been convicted of masterminding a £21 million get-rich-quick pyramid scheme.

The group encouraged around 10,000 vulnerable women to "beg, borrow or steal" £3,000 to put into the scheme between May 2008 and April 2009.

Victims were lured by the promise they would receive a £24,000 payout when they reached the top of their pyramid, with organisers promising they "could not lose".

The scheme, called Give and Take, quickly spread from Bath and Bristol across the West country and Wales.

Committee members behind the scheme pocketed up to £92,000 each, while as many as 88 per cent of the women they recruited lost out - some up to £15,000.

Eleven women, aged between 34 and 69, became the first to be prosecuted for such a scheme, under new legislation. Following two lengthy trials, in 2012 and 2013, three were convicted, three pleaded guilty, one was acquitted and two juries could not reach a verdict on another.

At a third trial at Bristol Crown Court which was due to start on Wednesday, Mary Nash, 65, Susan Crane, 68, and Hazel Cameron, 54, pleaded guilty to operating a pyramid scheme before a jury was sworn in. They will be sentenced next month.