A property trader masterminded a £3m mortgage fraud with the help of his benefits-claiming mother and sales assistant girlfriend, the Old Bailey heard.

Wayne Stubbs, 44, Wendy Stubbs, 61, and Rachel Gledhill, 39, massively overstated their incomes in applications for luxury properties in London’s Notting Hill, Kent and Huddersfield, it is claimed.

In one case Wendy Stubbs claimed to be earning £120,000 a year as a financial consultant when, in reality, she was unemployed and receiving state benefits, jurors were told.

Wayne Stubbs claimed to be a high-earning ‘unit trust dealer’ but appears not to have paid any tax or National Insurance since 1995, the court heard.

Gledhill, of Armitage Road in Milnsbridge, also allegedly stated she was earning more than £67,000 a year as a self-employed IT consultant when she was really getting £38,000 a year as a sales assistant for Harvey Nichols.

Prosecutor Nicholas Mather told the Old Bailey on Monday: "The prosecution is that these three defendants individually and, in some cases, together obtained a number of different mortgages by lying as part of the mortgage applications process about their employment.

"They then bought properties on the back of those lies and received a steady income by renting out these properties to paying tenants, income which was never declared and which amounts to the proceeds of criminal conduct."

Mr Mather said that Wayne Stubbs was ‘behind each and every one of the transactions’.

"It is no coincidence that the others in the dock are his mother and partner – his fingerprints are all over everything in this case.

"Wendy went along with this but knew what was taking place was dishonest. The same goes for Rachel Gledhill.

"The sizes of mortgages they were acquiring, they must have known applications were being made in their name with false details."

It is claimed Wayne and Wendy Stubbs were involved in applying for a £300,000 mortgage on a property in Crofton Lane, Orpington, in 2002, and a £237,500 mortgage on a flat in Linden Gardens, Notting Hill, in 2003.

Wayne Stubbs and Rachel Gledhill then applied for a £225,000 mortgage on a property in Hollyfield Avenue in Quarmby, Huddersfield, in 2004.

Stubbs then applied for a £237,500 mortgage for a flat in Park Hill Road, Bromley.

Next Gledhill applied for a £434,950 mortgage from a property on the Holwood Estate, Westerham Road, Keston.

In 2006 Wayne and Wendy Stubbs applied for a £1.2m mortgage on a property in Orpington Road, Chislehurst, and in 2008 Wayne Stubbs falsely stated the source of a £230,000 deposit a different flat in Linden Gardens, Notting Hill.

Wendy and Wayne Stubbs, both of Orpington Road, Chislehurst, Kent, deny four counts of obtaining a money transfer by deception for which they are jointly charged.

Wayne Stubbs further denies three counts of entering or becoming concerned with a money laundering arrangement, and a count each of obtaining a money transfer by deception, acquiring criminal property, and fraud by false representation.

Wendy Stubbs denies entering or becoming concerned with a money laundering arrangement and two counts of acquiring criminal property.

Gledhill denies two counts of obtaining a money transfer by deception and one of acquiring criminal property.

The trial continues on Tuesday.