A mentally ill conman who was jailed for five years for trying to swindle ACE out of $20 million will today attempt to get his sentence reduced.

Maxwell Roberts, of no fixed abode, pretended to be a company director at the international firm to obtain a cheque, but was caught red-handed after suspicious staff alerted the Police.

His lawyer Elizabeth Christopher will argue before Chief Justice Richard Ground in Supreme Court today that the 42-year-old — who previously lost an attempt to get his conviction quashed — should have received a custodial sentence of no more than two-and-a-half years.