A CHIGWELL solicitor has been jailed for his part in a mortgage scam involving hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Stephen Baron, 52, of High Mead, was found guilty of five counts of conspiracy to defraud and was jailed for 18 months at Maidstone Crown Court yesterday, July 28, following a three-month trial at Southwark Crown Court.

He was sentenced along with two other men for their fraudulent scheme, which involved valuing properties for much more than they were worth on the open market, applying for mortgages using false details and failing to keep up with the repayments, the court heard.

This resulted in the lenders, which included HBOS, Kensington Mortgages and The London Mortgage Company, repossessing the properties only to find that they were worth a lot less than they had been told, which meant they lost out when selling them on.

Baron, who was based at a law firm with branches in Cranbrook Road, Ilford and central London, performed the transfer of properties for the scam's organiser - Warren Mitchell, 40, of High Easter Road, Leaden Roding, Essex, who was sentenced to four years in prison for eight counts of conspiracy to defraud and one count of obtaining a money transfer by deception.

The court heard that Baron knowingly neglected his responsibilities to the mortgage lenders and failed to tell them about the fake details.

Mortgage broker David Lewis, 48, of Daintrees, Ware, Hertfordshire, helped to dishonestly calculate and record the income figures needed to get the mortgages on the properties, the court heard, and was given a 12-month suspended sentence and ordered to do 200 hours of unpaid work.

Police caught the trio after raiding Mitchell's letting agency, which is also based in Cranbrook Road, Ilford.

Dc Stuart Matthews, of the Metropolitan Police's Economic and Specialist Crime Command unit, said: “In one case, these three used a false identity to get a mortgage of more than £600,000.

“While their mortgage lenders have recouped some of the money, it is less than the amount they handed over. Confiscation proceedings have begun against all three.

“(Mitchell) used the proceeds of his crimes to buy a farmhouse in Essex, which is now believed to be worth in the region of £2 million.

"He also accumulated a portfolio of properties, some of which he rented out for money.”