Solicitor and mortgage broker helped developer get illegal mortgages, court told (From Darlington and Stockton Times)

Solicitor and mortgage broker helped developer get illegal mortgages, court told

1:11pm Wednesday 6th March 2013 in News By Neil Hunter

THE jury in the trial of a solicitor and broker accused of helping a property developer get illegal mortgages has been told: "They're all dishonest."

Prosecutor Simon Myers said it "must have been obvious" to the two professionals that the loan applications by client Jason Omar were fraudulent.

Mr Myers said claims from law firm partner Desmond McCarthy and broker Paul Bradwell that they missed a series of lies on the forms could not be believed.

Mr Omar, 41, from Middlesbrough, is alleged to have bought properties worth £1.5m with the help of the other two men by making a series of false claims.

He says he did not check the application forms and Mr Bradwell, from Hartlepool, and Mr McCarthy, from Thornaby, near Stockton, were to blame.

Mr Bradwell, 54, claims he was "used and duped" by Mr Omar and another property tycoon, Angelique Huggett, 45, who supplied him with the figures.

And 69-year-old Mr McCarthy - known as Paddy - admitted he may have been negligent, but insists he was overworked and did not intend to deceive.

Mr Myers told Teesside Crown Court: "Mr Bradwell knew exactly what he was doing. He knew he was breaching the rules, and he was prepared to do it.

"He either astonishingly didn't understand what he was doing, and this is a man who has been a professional mortgage broker, or he was helping his clients get the mortgages dishonestly, knowing what he was doing was wrong.

"The Crown says these were deliberate lies by Mr Omar. The Crown says Mr Bradwell must have realised.

"He either connivingly or knowingly assisted them or turned a blind eye to what was going on. The Crown says he can't have missed it."

The jury has heard how false details about income, home values and previous convictions were given on the application forms.

In some cases, it is said the professionals helped Mr Omar and Huggett "flip" properties and remortgage them before they even owned them.

It is also alleged that the two developers got loans for significantly more than the houses were worth - and pocketed the difference.

On some applications, both claimed to be sole traders and the owners of the same company Princess Limousines - a care hire, recruitment, or property business.

The salaries they claimed to earn - sometimes as much as £110,000 - were vastly different from what they declared to the taxman.

Mr Myers said the roles played by Mr McCarthy and Mr Bradwell was "essential" for Mr Omar and Huggett to get away with it.

Huggett, of Dishforth Close, Thornaby, has admitted conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation and will be sentenced at the end of the trial of the others.

Mr McCarthy, of Anchorage Mews, Thornaby, Mr Bradwell, of Meadowgate Drive, Hartlepool, and Mr Omar, of Church Lane, Ormesby, deny the charge.

The trial continues.

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