The sentence was handed down in the High Court at Auckland this morning by Justice Pamela Andrews, who said home detention wouldn't have been appropriate for the case, due to the scale of Urwin's offending.

Crown prosecutor Brian Dickey had asked for a jail sentence of four years for Urwin due to his involvement in the Barcroft related-party transaction and his lack of remorse; Urwin's lawyer argued for home detention.

Justice Andrews reduced Urwin's sentence from a starting point of three years and three months with a discount for his good character and low risk of reoffending, as well as his early guilty plea.

However, she said the losses involved in Bridgecorp were higher than in other finance company cases that have been before the courts such as Nathans Finance and Lombard Finance.

Urwin had been due to stand trial alongside fellow Bridgecorp directors Rod Petricevic, Robert Roest and Peter Steigrad, who were convicted earlier this month; however, Urwin made a last-minute guilty plea in November last year.

Former Bridgecorp chairman Bruce Davidson has already been sentenced to nine months' home detention, 200 hours community service and ordered to pay $500,000 in reparation to investors after pleading guilty to 10 Securities Act charges.  

The other three directors have yet to be sentenced; Petricevic and Roest are also due to face trial in September on Serious Fraud Office charges relating to Bridgecorp transactions.

Bridgecorp collapsed in July 2007 owing $459 million to 14,000 investors.