Jail term cut for mortgage fraud lawyer

A CHADDERTON lawyer sucked into a bizarre fraud in which an unsuspecting woman’s home was mortgaged to the hilt, has had his sentence cut on appeal.

Glyn Alan Wilmott (52) helped to arrange the bogus transaction through which his accomplices obtained a £45,000 mortgage advance.

The target property was the home of Margaret Stubbs in Royal Street, Northwich, London’s Appeal Court heard. The loan went through despite Mrs Stubbs owning her property mortgage-free. She no inkling about the loan.

“The transaction was said to be in connection with the purported sale of the house, with the money required for improvements to the property”, said Judge Richard Marks QC. “Wilmott acted as the solicitor in respect of the transaction, the entirety of which was a complete fiction.”

Mrs Stubbs, the court heard, lived for three years with the uncertainty of not knowing if she would be evicted from her own home.

Wilmott, of Birchwood, was jailed for four years at Chester Crown Court in February after he was convicted of conspiracy to commit fraud.

He challenged his sentence, claiming it was far too tough.

Judge Marks, sitting with Lady Justice Macur and Mrs Justice Nicola Davies, said there was a clear breach of trust. But he noted Wilmott’s previous character and that he had lost his career and faced ruin. The judges substituted a three-year sentence.