POLICE are to investigate a convicted couple’s plans to extend their £500,000 Shepley home.

Fraudsters Mark Small and Sian Lewis were sentenced by a court after turning their home in The Knowle into a pirate DVD factory.

Bradford Crown Court was told in February how the couple generated £170,000 in a year copying classic TV programmes and selling them over the internet.

A judge ruled that the couple would not benefit financially from their crimes and imposed a legal order to restrict their financial dealings.

Mr Small, 47, was jailed for nine months and his 21-year-old partner – who had a lesser role in the operation – was given 140 hours’ community service.

Now the Examiner can reveal that Ms Lewis has submitted a planning application to Kirklees Council to create a granny annex by building extensions and converting the double garage.

In a letter to the Examiner, neighbours expressed their concerns at the plans and said it seemed the couple were trying to cash in.

The letter said the plans sent out a message that “crime DOES pay”.

The court was told that the couple illegally copied BBC programmes from the 60s, 70s and 80s such as Just Good Friends, Top of the Pops and Ellery Queen.

Over more than a year Mr Small estimated he had made a profit of about £80,000.