End of a glittering Dubai dream: three Britons in jail accused of $500 million 'fraud'

Of all the British businessmen who have flocked to the Gulf's shining new cities, few epitomised the sun-soaked expatriate lifestyle more than Charles Ridley, Ryan Cornelius, and Arthur Fitzwilliam.

Ryan Cornelius divided his time between his property and energy businesses in Bahrain and his beach hotel in Kenya. It was there he kept his yacht and pursued his passion for big game fishing.

Charles Ridley dealt out sums in the billions as local representative of a boutique bank owned by a Turkish multi-millionaire. He too kept a million-dollar yacht, berthed near his home in Bahrain, but he was perhaps most celebrated in his circle of friends for the style with which he celebrated the 50th birthday of his wife, Kino.