A rogue trader has been given a suspended prison sentence for his part in conning banks out of £1.6 million in house loans.

Hull Crown Court heard how Alan Muscroft, a motor trader, had boasted that he earned £79,000 a year and had dishonestly filled out an application with Mortgage Plc in order to buy a detached house, reported the Selby Times.

Muscroft, 33, who was found guilty as part of a £223,000 mortgage fraud, also falsely stated that he ran Alan Muscroft Contractors for ten years in order to buy Prospect Villa on Main Street, Hemingbrough, which was purchased for £240,000 on 12th September 2007, according to the Zoopla property website.

The Court heard that at the time of the scam he was actually a dodgy car dealer, known as “Donny Soldier”, who was claiming social security benefits. He bought the house near Selby, North Yorkshire, as his family home but made only one mortgage payment before it was repossessed, costing the bank thousands.

Muscroft was one of four friends who jointly conned the banks out of £1.6 million using the offices of convicted mortgage adviser Anthony Gott, 46.

Gott used his mortgage advice company as a cover for the scam, through which he provided loans for a string of friends and acquaintances.

Crown barrister Nicholas Lane said Muscroft was part of the group headed by Gott, which also included David Hood, 47, and his girlfriend Tina Lacy, 40, which took part in mortgage deception. Muscroft actually bought Lacy’s house in Hemingbrough as she moved on to bigger scams.

Muscroft pleaded guilty to a charge of fraud by knowingly making a false representation to Mortgage Plc that he earned £79,000 between February and October 2007.

The case became notorious in the press as one of the group, Hood, called himself Del Boy in one of the documents he submitted to Gott to mastermind the joint release of £1,034,017 in house loans. They all fooled banks by claiming they had much-dreamed-of “executive size” pay packets.

Muscroft’s co-accused were all given suspended prison sentences. Gott was handed a two-year suspended prison sentence, while Hood and his girlfriend were given 18-month suspended prison sentences and 300 hours community punishment.

Sentencing Judge James Sampson told Muscroft that what he did was “entirely dishonest”.

He passed a six-month sentence, suspended for two years, and also ordered Muscroft to complete 200 hours un-paid work.