Property fraudsters to pay £200,000 or face longer in jail

Crooked property investors who lied on mortgage applications to finance 19 buy to let homes have to pay back £200,000 of rents in six months or face longer in jail.

John and Helen Rose, 45, from Doncaster, were sentenced in February last year, for fraud following an 18 month investigation by South Yorkshire Police.

They admitted telling lies on mortgage applications and receiving rental income from the homes they bought by fraud.

Now, police are pursuing a confiscation inquiry under proceeds of crime laws.

At Sheffield Crown Court, the criminal gains the couple made were calculated as £1,280,000.00.

The Rose’s have been ordered to pay £200,000 in the next six months. Failure to hand over the cash will result in longer prison sentences.

Police and courts will monitor their finances to recover the remaining cash over the next six years, with any property or assets seized to pay back the amount they owe.

Temporary Detective Inspector Steve Leach said: “This sends out a clear message that any gains made from crime, at some point, will all have to be paid back.

“I would always ask the public to report people who are committing crimes and living above their lawful means, and to not let them get away with it.”

Mortgage scam valuer jailed for taking £1 million in gifts

Surveyor Mary-Jane Rathie, who accepted £1 million of cars and cash for taking part in a £10 million mortgage fraud, has been jailed for six years at The Old Bailey.

Rathie, 45, who worked for valuers Ashdown Lyons, was found guilty of five charges of fraud and concealing criminal property in a trial last month.

She artificially inflated luxury property valuations in London for clients who fraudulently obtained mortgages.