(ThisisLocalLondon) - Brother and sister fraudsters conned £4.5m out of investors through a vintage wine scam, a court heard.

Daniel Snelling, 38, of Basinghall Gardens, Sutton, is accused of four counts of fraud at Southwark Crown Court, and is joined in the dock by his sister Dina Snelling, 35, from Chislehurst, and cousin Rebecca McDonald, 42, of Bexleyheath.

His girlfriend, Kelly Humphries, from Wallington, will face trial over her alleged involvement at a later date.

The court heard Mr Snelling's company, Nouveau World Wines, convinced people to buy large quantities of fine wines, which the company said it would store at a wine vault in New South Wales, Australia while their stock value increased.

Staff at the company would cold call people and tell them wine was safer than gold as an investment as the wealthy people who bought vintage wine were recession proof, jurors heard.