Diana Meghrabi told her mortgage broker she earned a £40,000 annual bonus in order to secure a £488,720 mortgage on a property in the upmarket London neighbourhood St John’s Wood in 2007, the Ham & High reported.
Last August, Kingston Crown Court convicted her of fraud in relation to statements about her earnings and ordered her to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work as well as giving her a 12 month suspended sentence.
At her trial, Meghrabi had argued the reference to the bonus had been put in at the suggestion of the mortgage broker and he had told her it didn’t matter as it was not guaranteed income. She appealed the conviction on the grounds the judge had questioned her in a way that prejudiced the jury against her.
On Monday three judges rejected her application to appeal. Judge Charles Wide said: ““The grounds of appeal are that the judge’s questioning of the appellant would have been perceived by the jury as an indication that he didn’t believe or accept her case.
“It would have been better if the judge had not asked the questions about which she complains but the questioning was of short duration and it is not properly arguable that the judge’s actions rendered the trial unfair.”
