A SOUTHALL man already serving time for fraud was handed a further 18-month sentence today for conning banks out of hundreds of thousands of pounds in mortgages.

Zamir Hussain, 28, was jailed today along with his estranged wife Yasmin Syed, 31, for tricking around £700,000 from the Portman, Northern Rock and Alliance and Leicester building societies on two properties in Romford.

Hussain went on the run for six years after helping his parents, Afzal and Yasmin, con an elderly woman suffering with Alzheimers out of her home and other property under the pretence of friendship, for which his parents were jailed for five years in 2002.

In the meantime he and Syed, obtained a succession of mortgages on two Romford properties by giving false details of Ms Syed's earnings and backing them up with false documents, prosecutor Michael Speak told Isleworth Crown Court today.

Hussain of Lady Margaret Road, Southall, and Ms Syed of Stanley Road, Ilford, admitted a total of six charges of either obtaining money transfers by deception or concealing, disguising or converting criminal property between April 2005 and their arrests in May this year.

In each of the mortgage applications Syed claimed to be working for Computertec earning up to £65,000 a year, and provided P60s and other documents to back this up. They obtained more than £700,000 in mortgages and re-mortgages on Romford properties. Following repossession and sale, the total loss to the various companies was "in the region of £100,000".

Defending Hussain, Toby Long said he just wanted to get his life in order when he comes out of prison and particularly to be a father to his six-year-old son. He accepted that he was the "prime mover" in the fraud and that he persuaded his wife to take part.

For Ms Syed, Christopher Coltart said it was a "sad day indeed" that found her, a graduate and professional who had never been in trouble before, "in the dock of a criminal court". She worked as a recruitment consultant and was the sole carer for her son, he said. She is now bankrupt but "is respected in her community and they think of her highly".

Jailing Hussain for 18 months and suspending a nine month sentence for two years on Syed, Judge Richard McGregor-Johnson told them: "You have both pleaded guilty to repeated mortgage fraud with lies being told to obtain loans and these lies being backed up with fraudulent documents.

“This was not an attempt to get a roof over your heads, the second property was an investment, it was plainly an enterprise set up to make a profit.

“Hussain you were responsible for involving your wife in these serious offences and you were unlawfully at large having failed to attend your trial at this court on other serious matters.”

While Hussain was sent to prison, the judge said Syed had sufficient mitigation for him to suspend her sentence but, in addition, she must do 240 hours' unpaid work.

They both face a confiscation hearing in January.