Five in court over multimillion-pound fraud

The three men and two women made substantial amounts of money by falsifying documents which allowed them to buy properties in Spain, France and England, Southwark Crown Court in London heard.

Judge Martin Beddoe said the defendants, who were convicted of various offences last month, will be sentenced tomorrow.

Mark Fenhalls, prosecuting, said there was evidence the fraud started as early as January 2003.

Alan Hill, 53, of Darfield Avenue, in Owlthorpe, Sheffield, was convicted of 15 offences amounting to just over 3 million, and has a further 15 offences of deception and fraud to be taken into consideration.

He forged documentation including tax certificates, wage slips and bank statements, allowing people to unlawfully obtain mortgages. He also purchased a property in Spain through funds gained from money laundering.

Anthony Gould, 47, of Whiteholme Drive, Leeds, obtained money transfers and property by deception. He had taken the identity of his brother, who has lived in Australia for 24 years, and used fake documents including a falsely obtained passport, driving licence and bank accounts set up without his brother's knowledge.

Mark Bates, 49, of Highfield Lane, Chesterfield, was convicted of money laundering and conspiracy offences totalling 350,000 and his wife, Karen Bates, 40, of false accounting.

Helen Chapman, 48, of Victoria Court, Nether Edge, Sheffield, was convicted of conspiracy to obtain a money transfer by deception.

Outlining one particular incident, Mr Fenhalls said Chapman applied for a fraudulent mortgage in 2005 to buy a house in Spain.

He said: "The form that was submitted in support of that application contained a range of false details about her assets and about her income. Hill made the false documents in support of those.

"Documents recovered from his hard drive contained identical materials to that which was recovered from the bank."

She obtained a 2.6 million euro mortgage in the summer of 2006 after sending the forged documents from a bank in Derbyshire to be certified in Spain.

The court heard that after one mortgage payment in November 2006 she claimed to the bank that she had been duped by her ex-partner, Anthony Gould. She eventually returned the keys in March 2008.

Hill, Mark Bates and Karen Bates, who entered not guilty pleas to some or all charges against them, sat through a six-week trial where the prosecution called a large number of witnesses including accountants and previous clients of both Hill and Mark Bates.