9 May 2011 6:18 pm

http://www.moneymarketing.co.uk/mortgages/four-convicted-of-mortgage-frauds-worth-over-%C2%A31m/1030753.article

Four Yorkshire men and women have been convicted of mortgage frauds worth over £1m.

Anthony Nixon, Samantha Nixon, Mark Spencer and Karen Jackson were given suspended sentences and community orders when they appeared in Leeds Crown Court on Friday.

Both Nixons pleaded guilty to conspiring to obtain money transfers by deception and money laundering offences and Spencer and Jackson were also found guilty of conspiring to obtain a money by deception.

Anthony Nixon was given a 12 months suspended sentence for two years and 250 hours community work while Samantha Nixon was given a 12 month suspended sentence and 200 hours work.

Spencer was given a 12 month suspended sentence for two years and 250 hours community work and Jackson was given a community order for 18 months and 150 hours unpaid work.

A fifth man, Ronald Ripley, has pleaded guilty to money laundering offences in connection with this investigation and is due to be sentenced at a later date.

In 2006 the police started to look at the lifestyle of the Nixons. This included the purchase of substantial residential properties and buy-to-let properties in and around the Leeds area, the purchase of prestige cars, holidays abroad, which was more than their income allowed.

In 1999, Anthony Nixon bought a property in Morley for £160,000. The mortgage used to buy the house was found to be fraudulent, which in turn made the house criminal property. In 2004 the house was sold to Jackson at an overinflated price of £495,000.

Jackson also obtained her funds to purchase this house by deception. She was aided by Spencer, who was a mutual acquaintance of both the Nixons.

In December 2004 the Nixons bought a home at Midgley which they were only able to purchase after selling the house in Morley at the over inflated price. The house at Midgley was subsequently sold in March 2007 to an unconnected family for over £950,000.

Officers found £85,000 in Ripley’s home in May 2007, which he was holding for Anthony Nixon. Both men pleaded guilty to concealing criminal property.