Buy-to-let conman built £10m property empire
FRAUDSTER GIRLFRIEND WILL RUN LETTING OPERATION WHILE HE IS IN JAIL
A BUY-TO-LET fraudster built a £10m property empire while his girlfriend claimed state handouts.
Scott Rowbotham, 35, assembled a portfolio of 88 properties with the help of members of Tameside’s criminal underworld – including convicted drug dealer Billy Black, who was then the partner of police killer Dale Cregan’s sister, Stacey Cregan.
Rowbotham, who is believed to be collecting around £500,000 a year in rents from his properties, got lenders to hand over huge sums by lying about his income and forging payslips. By exaggerating the value of houses he was buying, he cut out the need for deposits, reduced his capital gains tax liability and maximised his profits.
He then let out the properties, most of which were in Tameside, and remortaged them to fund yet more purchases, land deals and building projects across Greater Manchester. He also falsified sales to pals in order to raise more finance, until his web of fraud was unravelled by a meticulous police and HMRC investigation.
Rowbotham, of Ashes Close, Stalybridge, was jailed for three years and eight months by Judge Hilary Manley after admitting fraud and money laundering between 2004 and 2014.
Manchester Crown Court heard Rowbotham claimed to be an operations manager for a TV company earning £48,000 a year to get loans. In reality he had earned only £1,000 in declared income and paid just £18.20 in tax in an 11-year period, prosecutor Nick Clarke QC said. Rowbotham recruited his partner Louise Burns, with whom he has two children, to front £1m of purchases for him. She worked parttime as a revenues assistant at Tameside council at the time and claimed £20,000 in tax credits while the pair enjoyed a luxury lifestyle. The 36-yearold, also of Ashes Close, will run Rowbotham’s letting operation while he is behind bars after being given a 15-month jail sentence suspended for two years, and 100 hours of unpaid work, after admitting fraud. Her mother, Joan Burns, 63, of Hollingwood Hall Farm, Mottram, also secured a mortgage for Rowbotham, as well as signing finance and lease agreements on a Range Rover Sport and a Mercedes C220 AMG Sport for the couple. She admitted fraud and was given a 12-month community order and a £500 fine.
Anne-Marie Fielding, 52, of Huddersfield Road, Stalybridge, was a ‘respectable’ property developer who saw Rowbotham ‘as a brother’ and so helped him obtain mortgages. She was given a 12-month sentence suspended for two years, after admitting fraud, with 250 hours of unpaid work.
Prosecutor Nick Clarke QC said: “It’s impossible to know just how much illicit profit Mr Rowbotham has made... what we can say is Mr Rowbotham is a fraudster on a grand scale.” Forensic accounting has revealed a £2m ‘black hole’ that cannot be accounted for by lending, suggesting he was funded by crime as well, Mr Clarke said.
Black and another Cregan associate, Leon Atkinson, collaborated in property deals with Rowbotham, including a building development at Stretford Marina. Mr Clarke said: “Black and Rowbotham did in fact commit many criminal offences together as they both built up a property portfolio on fraudulent transactions.”
Both men laundered money through watches and jewellery which could be hidden from creditors. Rolex, Cartier, Tiffany and Bulgari items were seized from Rowbotham.
The exact loss to lenders is not yet known as it’s likely a number of the properties are in negative equity because Rowbotham lied about the purchase prices. Jason MacAdam, defending, said Rowbotham had been a ‘respectable hard worker’ who started out legitimately renovating and buying properties with a £120,000 inheritance. He said ‘financial pressure’ and the ‘encouragement of others’ led him into crime.
What we can say is Mr Rowbotham is a fraudster on a grand scale Prosecutor Nick Clarke QC