Mark Entwistle, Jonathan Gilbert, Matthew Robinson, and Nicholas Pomroy were all convicted of various counts of conspiracy to defraud and in the case of Entwistle and Robinson money laundering after a 26 week trial.
The convictions are a result of one of the longest running investigations ever conducted by Thames Valley Police, involving a team of specialist officers from the Economic Crime Unit. The investigation originally began in July 2009 when the principal lender was alerted to the fraud by a solicitor engaged to perfect security on one of the properties subject of the counts.
The court heard how Mark Entwistle, a self employed pilot with a large personal property portfolio and property developer trading under various derivatives of ‘Rigsby New Homes’, worked with solicitor Jonathan Gilbert to obtain illegal mortgages and loans on a number of properties and development sites.
Entwistle applied for mortgages on various properties and Gilbert acted as his solicitor. Together they also agreed to split land titles enabling multiple loans to be acquired on the same properties thereby misleading lenders including RBS and Northern Rock into thinking they have greater legal rights and collateral than they did.
One house in St Mary’s Road, Ascot, was remortgaged five times for over £8 million.
Matthew Robinson was a mortgage broker who processed the false mortgage applications to banks and Nicholas Pomroy was an accountant who signed false accounting certificates resulting in banks approving loans on behalf of Mark Entwistle.
In total, the four men worked together to obtain fraudulent mortgages totalling £35 million from 12 different lenders.
As a result of the fraud, Wilmett Solicitors went into liquidation in 2009 and Gilbert was also disbarred and banned from practising as a solicitor the following year. During the investigation, it came to light that all paperwork held by Gilbert at the solicitors firm had been destroyed.
The fraudsters also entered in to agreements to buy properties from unconnected homeowners, the loans were obtained but the home owners were told at the time of completion that the lenders had withdrawn their funding and they were no longer purchasing the properties. This resulted in untold stress to the homeowners who lost their onward purchases and substantial deposits. Further loans were also obtained on these properties despite the fact they were always owned by the original homeowners.
Det Supt David Poole, Head of Thames Valley Police Specialist Operations Department said:
“Fraud is not a victimless crime. Testimony was heard in court about the stress suffered by some whose homes have been sold from underneath them, those who lost life savings and investments, and those who lost jobs.
"The 34 years imprisonment imposed on the four men convicted highlights the serious nature of this criminality and will be a deterrent to anyone else considering committing fraud."
