Five await sentencing after massive buy-to-let fraud

A former police officer is one of five people who have been convicted of a £20m buy-to-let mortgage fraud.

The scam involved 189 mortgage applications, including some for non-existent properties, between May 2003 and June 2008.

Antony Lowry-Huws, 63, from Kinmel Bay near Rhyl, was said to be the main force behind the fraud which took place in north Wales.

He was found guilty of conspiracy to defraud, alongside his wife – a financial adviser – a woman business partner, a solicitor and a surveyor.

The five, who had all denied conspiring to defraud and falsify documents to induce false finance and mortgage payments, will be sentenced in September.

The convictions follow a case that took five years to bring to the courts, and a trial lasting five months. In it, the jury had to consider 50,000 items of evidence and at the end, were excused from having to do jury service again.

The surveyor, Frank Edward Darlington, from Barnoldswick, Lancashire, provided bogus property valuations and rental income figures. The solicitor, Nicholas John Jones, did the conveyancing work and submitted the fraudulent mortgage applications.

The other two who were found guilty were Lowry-Huws’ business partner, property speculator Sheila Rose Whalley, from Llanfairtalhaiarn in the Conwy Valley, and his wife Susan Lowry-Huws.

A second surveyor, George Walker, of Colwyn Bay, was cleared by the jury.

The court heard that lenders were deceived into making loans because the values of the properties were inflated, hiding the fact that in some cases no deposit was put down. In some cases the apartments on which mortgages were advanced simply did not exist.

The scam was uncovered in December 2007 when a woman found that mortgage applications had been made in her son’s name. Lenders Bradford & Bingley subsequently called in the police.

Judge Rhys Rowlands said: “The essence of the case is deceiving mortgage lenders, banks, into parting with their money and lending when they would not had they known the truth.”

He told Antony Lowry-Huws, Darlington and Whalley that they had acted out of “pure greed” and told them to expect “fairly significant” prison sentences.

He said that Susan Lowry-Huws had been acting under the influence of her husband, and that would be taken into account during sentencing.

However, he told solicitor Jones: “Sadly, the same cannot be said for you. You plainly knew what was going on.”

All five were granted bail to await sentencing, under the condition that they surrender their passports and are subject to a curfew monitored by electronic tagging.

After the case, a police spokesperson said: “North Wales Police welcome the verdicts of guilty on individuals convicted of this substantial mortgage fraud, one of the largest investigations of this nature ever to be conducted in England and Wales.”


* In an unrelated case, a serving police officer with the Great Manchester force, Inspector Mohammed Razaq, has been found guilty of a £46,000 buy-to-let mortgage  and insurance fraud.

He told lenders on two occasions that he would be living in the properties concerned, and obtained a residential mortgage. He made false insurance claims, profiting by £13,000.

Razaq, of Bolton, was found guilty of six offences of fraud and three under the Proceeds of Crime Act. He is due to be sentenced on June 28. Greater Manchester Police are to hold a misconduct inquiry.