The trial of three East Lancashire property swindlers, who defrauded 13 investors to the tune of over £1 million, has finally concluded with two of the conmen receiving prison sentences, reported The Jewish Chronicle.

The trio were involved in the scam between January 2005 and September 2008, which took payments for properties at escalated prices from numerous investors. The scammers further failed to deliver on promises that the properties would qualify for regeneration grants and receive guaranteed tenants once renovated, reported The Blackburn Citizen.

The decision, reached at Manchester Crown Court on 11th January 2012, sentenced Raymond Abramson, 69, a bankrupt former Estate Agent, to three years in prison. Abramson used the false name Trevor Smith during the fraud according to the Lancashire Telegraph, in order to mastermind the scam.

Abramson’s co-conspirator, financial services worker, Mark Jopson, 51, was sentenced to two years and seven months in prison after police searches found he had deposited £1,068,000 into numerous bank accounts.

The last accomplice, John Edwards, 43, was ordered to carry out 200 hours of community service and given a ten month suspended sentence.

At the trial, Abramson’s defence lawyer, Jeffrey Samuel QC, attempted to lessen the gravity of the fraud, ascertaining that the profits made by the trio did not reflect the amount generated from the property sales and purchases, according to The Blackburn Citizen.

Commenting on the severity of the case, John Lonsdale of Detective Constable Greater Manchester Police's Fraud Investigation Unit, told the Jewish Chronicle: "Abramson, Jopson and Edwards worked together on this meticulous scam, which they delivered over a prolonged period of time, to deliberately defraud their victims.

"All the victims have lost something as a result of the defendants' greed and many will not recoup their initial outlay as the houses are in poor areas and in varying states of disrepair.”