William O’Neil, 47, took out a Bank of Scotland mortgage in 2002 after claiming to be a company manager earning £32,000, STV reported. In fact, he was a prominent drug dealer who applied for his mortgage while in prison.
Defence counsel Mark Moir said: “It happened here because we had greedy brokers, greedy lawyers and greedy bankers. All of them were interested in getting the commission.”
However, the court saw an application including the false details signed by O’Neil. It also heard that nobody in the mortgage process actually dealt with him face-to-face.
According to the Daily Record, ‘Willie’ O’Neil ran a string of businesses, including a property portfolio, a pub chain, hundreds of private taxis and an accountancy firm. He was jailed for seven years in 2001 after being caught with £250,000-worth of heroin.
O’Neil used the £78,500 mortgage to buy a house. After being released in 2007, he sold it and transferred the cash to his partner Denise McNeil, who then applied for a mortgage on a £1.5m house.
McNeil falsely claimed she earned £300,000 as the owner of a café, Bank Roll. This allowed her to obtain a £975,000 mortgage. She faces two years in jail.
O’Neil’s sister, Deborah Hayburn, 49, was also found guilty of mortgage fraud and jailed for two years. Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service serious organised crime head Lindsey Miller said: “O’Neil, Hayburn and McNeil set out with one aim in mind – to help themselves to hundreds of thousands of pounds of other people’s money.
“Not only do they now face years behind bars, but the Crown has also launched confiscation proceedings against all three to ensure that the profits from their criminal enterprise are taken back from them.
“I want to reassure the public, especially given these times of recession, that we will do all in our power to bring to justice those who seek to defraud and undermine our financial institutions for their own gain.”
