David Purdie, 52, who once played football for Aston Villa before moving into property, was charged on Tuesday night for violating his bankruptcy order, which forbids him from taking on directorships in other companies.

The former broker was orginally arrested in June 2009, following a police probe into the dealings of sale-and-rent-bank companies North East Property Buyers and Newcastle Home Loans.

North East Property Buyers (NEPB) had a portfolio of 2,000 homes when it became the centre of a major fraud investigation in 2008.

A director of Newcastle Home Loans and former boss of NEPB, Mr Purdie – alongside his wife and other firm employees – assumed bail whilst the (now defunct) SARB firms were being investigated in what is considered as, potentially, one of the largest housing frauds in British history.

Det Sgt Phil Loveday of Northumbria Police’s Economic Crime Unit said: “David Purdie has been charged under Section 11 of the Company Directors Disqualification Act.

“Anyone who has been made bankrupt has an order against them that they are not to be involved in running any business or taking out any loans.”

Mr and Mrs Purdie were declared bankrupt in January 2010 and disqualified by the FSA in 2009. When fined by the authority in August 2009, the FSA said the failures of Newcastle Home Loans were “serious, deliberate and occurred as a matter of routine.

“Its principals acted in a totally unacceptable fashion and their actions and the actions of those connected to the firm posed a serious risk to the lender and to market confidence generally,” the FSA said in a press statement.

Mr Purdie’s re-arrest comes just four days after what’s being described as a landmark court case; the High Court ruled that the nine families who sold their homes to North East Property Buyers and Newscastle Home Loans would not be given the right to repossess their homes.

Instead, the High court ruling found in favour of the mortgage lenders, ruling that they had more right to the properties than the residents. 

The fraud investigation into North East Property Buyers and Newcastle Home loans continues.