My £1m pension was sent in the post by cheque — and stolen

It should have been a simple transfer. Instead the businessman Stuart James lost almost all of his £1 million pot after a catalogue of failures by a pension firm and two of the UK’s biggest banks.

A big reason for his loss was the fact that his life savings were not sent electronically, or via a secure bank transfer. They were sent by cheque: a simple piece of paper that was transported, not by a specially arranged courier, but by Royal Mail.

This precious cargo was intercepted, pocketed by thieves and quickly deposited before being moved on to destinations still mainly unknown. More than six months later, having lost £30,000 in legal fees and unpaid interest, James is still without most of his carefully saved