Michael Hills had promised to help find Miss Blackman and Mr Winder

Michael Hills, 60, from Waterloo, south London, had pleaded guilty in April at Chelmsford Crown Court, to two counts of obtaining property by deception.

He had promised to help the families of Lucie Blackman, who went missing in Tokyo in 2000, and of Paul Winder who disappeared the same year while trekking in Latin America.

The remains of Miss Blackman, 21, from Sevenoaks in Kent, were found in a cave near Tokyo in 2001.

'Criminal underworld'

Mr Winder, of Great Baddow, Essex, returned safely to the UK after being held captive in Colombia by guerrillas.

Hills said he had contacts in the "criminal underworld" in Panama and Japan that could help secure the release of both Britons, taking �15,000 from the Blackmans and �5,000 from the Winders.

The Tim Blackman he could produce a lock of his daughter's hair to prove she was still alive and said she was to be released on a given time and date.

Mr Blackman, a 50-year-old property developer who now lives on the Isle of Wight, flew out to Japan to meet her, but she never appeared.

Judge Alasdair Darroch said it was hard to understand how anyone could be so cruel.

He said: "You told one family their son was dead when he was alive and another family their daughter was alive when in fact she was dead. You can imagine the horror that you caused to them."

Japanese property developer Joji Obara is standing trial accused of killing Miss Blackman. He denies fatal assault, or rape resulting in death.

Hills was sentenced at Chelmsford Crown Court on Friday.