A GANG of fraudsters scooped more than £4.5m across West Yorkshire.

Now a former financial advisor and two members of his family have been ordered by a judge to hand over more than £½m after he masterminded the West Yorkshire-based mortgage scam.

Batley man Rashid Farid, 33, was jailed for 11 years in 2009 after being convicted of conspiracy to commit fraud arising out his operation of Dewsbury-based Lifestyle Mortgages (Kirklees) Ltd.

The scam, which netted in total £4,571,279.35, involved the altering of Land Registry records via the internet and applications for mortgages and remortgages on properties in Bradford, Wakefield, Leeds and Dewsbury.

Farid, a qualified accountant who acted as a registered mortgage broker, was described at his sentence hearing as the “director and inventor” of the sophisticated scheme.

Yesterday Farid was back at Bradford Crown Court along with his father Mohammed Farid, 55 and his brother 28-year-old Mohammed Jahangir Farid.

Mohammed Jahangir Farid and his father were jailed for four years and two years respectively in 2009 after they were found guilty of money-laundering offences.

The Farid family, who live in Lemans Drive, Batley, were yesterday ordered by Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC to pay back nearly £535,000 following the conclusion of a Proceeds of Crime hearing into their financial affairs.

The largest order was made against Rashid Farid himself who must pay back just over £330,000 or face an additional three-and-half years in jail.

Judge Durham Hall explained that the ruling meant that even if Farid spent the extra time behind bars the debt would still have to be paid following his release.

Mohammed Jahangir Farid must repay a figure of £161,427.19 or face a further two years and three months behind bars while their father Mohammed Farid has to hand over £41,967.02 or risk being locked up again for 15 months.