TWO Trafford men described as ‘masterminds’ of five separate fraud conspiracies have been jailed.


Marshall Joseph, 55, of Hermitage Road, Hale and Alick Ute Kapikanya, 52, of Chatham Road, Stretford were jailed alongside five other people, on April 23.


Following a 10-week trial at Manchester Crown Court, Kapikanya was sentenced to six years in prison and Joseph was sentenced to four years, six months.


In 2007, the pair mastermined five ‘different and yet linked conspiracies to defraud’, which involved properties in Greater Manchester, Cheshire and Lincolnshire.


The duo fraudulently arranged for property titles to be transferred from real homeowners to themselves, before they then secured a variety of loans against those properties.


The true property-owners knew nothing about the scam.


Joseph and Kapikanya directly received more than £3 million from the fraudulently acquired loans and attempted to raise a further £3 million against the properties, but were unsuccessful.


Det Con Craig Moylon, of GMP’s Major Fraud Unit, said: “Kapikanya used the funds he raised to gamble heavily at many of the most exclusive casinos in the country while driving very expensive cars and staying in the finest hotels, sometimes for months at a time.


“Amazingly he did all this while a registered bankrupt.


“This was a meticulously planned series of frauds which involved different people playing different parts all for a common purpose with no regard for the devastation they were to have on many innocent parties.


“The offenders carried out their actions with no regard for the lending organisations who lost hundreds of thousands of pounds or the innocent homeowners who aside from the traumatic experience of fearing they had lost their homes or were potentially liable for loans of hundreds of thousands of pounds were forced to instruct solicitors to have their homes put back in their name and the secured loans removed from their titles.”


Five other people were sentenced for their part in the fraud.


Bruce Robertson, 50, of Carter Close, Cambridge, was sentenced to two years, six months imprisonment.


Irene Perciful, 49, also of Carter Close, was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment.


Peter Tanner, 52, of Brewery Road, Pampisford, was sentenced to 15 months imprisonment, suspended for two years, plus 140 hours unpaid work.


Christopher Campbell, 31, of Burlington Road, Ipswich, was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment, suspended for two years, plus 140 hours unpaid work.


Myra Trigg, 56, of Crondall Street, Moss Side, was sentenced for eight months imprisonment, suspended for two years.