Shamed solicitor jailed for cunning and manipulative criminal act with husband
ton Park View. The defendants appear from that stage onwards to have taken steps to cover up the fraudulent registration of the charge by way of the deletion of files from a laptop computer belonging to Madasser Hussain.”
In early 2014 a solicitor was instructed by Mr Boota, who had power of attorney over Mr Rashid’s affairs, to seek to challenge the registration of the legal charge.
Initial efforts to have the charge removed by consent were unsuccessful, which resulted in the Land Registry being told that the legal charge registered against the title for 12 Heaton Park View was fraudulent.
On March 4, 2014, an investigator from the Land Registry received an email and attached to it were a series of documents including a solicitors’ file note dated September 2008 and three letters.
Mr O’brien said: “These documents were not genuine.
“The documents were carefully crafted so as to look like they had been created in 2008 but were, in fact, created in 2014.
“The documents were created by the defendants on Madasser Hussain’s laptop in order to make it look like the submission of the CH1 form in November 2008 had been entirely above board.
“The pretence of the forged letters and file note being genuine was maintained throughout the course of the Land Registry’s investigation and, indeed, through the course of a police investigation.
“Attempts were made throughout by the defendants to make both investigations go away.”
The prosecutor added: “It is clear further efforts were also made to ensure evidence was not recovered by the police, for instance with various files being deleted from computers.”
The court heard there was some actual loss caused to the Land Registry, who are liable for Mr Boota’s legal costs of around £30,000 in challenging the fraudulent charge.
Hussain, 46, of Fowberry Crescent, Fenham, was convicted after trial of fraud by false representation and perverting the course of justice. She was jailed for three years and nine months.
Rashid, 48, of Fowberry Crescent, Fenham, pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation and conspiring to pervert the course of justice. He was jailed for three years and three months.
References were handed in for both as to their ordinarily good characters.
Hussain’s barrister claimed she lived in a patriarchal society and was to some extent controlled but Judge Batiste “it could not be achieved without her” and added: “The impression given was this was not a shrinking violet.”
The court heard Hussain has done charity work, helped vulnerable people and has never been in trouble before.
Rashid’s barrister said the dad-of-two felt aggrieved about the dispute with Mr Boota and felt cheated out of a significant amount of money.
The court heard as well as having two young adult sons, the taxi driver is the primary carer for his dad, who has dementia.
After the case, police said property lawyer Hussain had invested £60,000 into the takeaway in 2002 at which point her husband took on a position working behind the counter.
In 2008, the takeaway manager realised that Rashid had mistakenly been overpaid during the time of his employment.
The couple refused to pay back the money and instead claimed that Rashid’s wages must be honoured, due to the length of time that had elapsed, police said. However, the manager did not agree to this and instead dissolved the business partnership with Mrs Hussain as the overpaid salary was around the same amount as her original investment into the takeaway.
In a bid to protect her investment, the solicitor later forged the Land Registry document.
It meant that, when the takeaway owner tried to sell the residential property in January 2014, the sale was blocked and both parties were left at a standstill.
When Hussain was confronted about the charge, she refused to lift it, hoping this would force the takeaway owner to pay back the £60,000 investment.
However, the police were called and specialist detectives from the North East Regional Special Operations Unit launched an investigation.
Detective Constable Steve Brown said: “It was a crime s motivated by desperation and greed after this married couple lost out on their investment in this business. Rather than accept their money was gone, they instead resorted to criminal means to try and extort money from the takeaway owner.”