Jurors have cleared a Telford banker of a £125,000 mortgage fraud.
After 18 hours of deliberations, following a 15-day trial, Jatinder Kaur Rana was yesterday found not guilty of acquiring criminal property between November 2005 and March 2006, through a credit balance to her bank account of £125,000 knowing or suspecting it to constitute benefit from criminal conduct
The 28-year-old, speaking after her acquittal, warned people to make sure they read any form before they signed it.
Miss Rana, of Trench Road, Trench, said outside court: “I did not know what I was doing.
“All I would do is advise people who get forms to make sure they read them before signing them.”
Four other people from Stoke were convicted of similar offences and will be sentenced next month. A sixth defendant, who pleaded guilty at the start of the Stafford Crown Court trial, was told he would be jailed for 32 months.
The prosecution alleged Miss Rana, who worked for the Royal Bank of Scotland, made false claims about employment and earnings when she applied for a 35-year mortgage for £125,000 through the Mortgage Shop in Longton, Stoke-on-Trent, to buy a £140,000 house.
She said in evidence she did not know whether any of the mortgage application forms had been filled in before she signed them and she had trusted the man arranging her mortgage.
Miss Rana told the jury: “I did not know there were any blank parts to these forms. There was nothing to alert me there were false details.
“It was only when I had a call from the police I learned I was implicated in a mortgage fraud and it was the first I knew there was anything wrong. I felt naive and stupid.”
Miss Rana spent nearly £8,000 to redeem her mortgage and take out another one with the Halifax Building Society, the court heard.
Mr Malcolm Morse, prosecuting, said a total of £642,000 was obtained in fraudulent loan applications by the defendants.
By Michael Posner
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