Telford family was at centre of a series of frauds

Farook Hussain did not have a job and was on benefits – but he lived in a six-bedroom house in Wellington, Telford, drove around in top-of-the-range cars and was the head of his family's own mini property empire.

Today, after a ban of more than two years on reporting, the Shropshire Star can reveal it was a lifestyle funded by ill-gotten gains.

The 46-year-old befriended fellow boxing fan Thomas Scragg, who is currently serving 17 years in prison for his part in a £34 million VAT and tax fraud, at fight nights in the town.

He was paid well to launder more than £600,000 in cash which was paid directly into his bank account from Scragg's firm Moya Payroll Systems.

But his frauds did not stop there and Hussain recruited his own family members to help him pile up the cash.

A further £700,000 came through various illegal transactions linked to a number of mortgage applications in which Hussain and his family gave false information to banks and building societies.

In 1998 Farook Hussain acquired the family home, a six-bedroom semi-detached house in Mill Bank, Wellington, from his brother Jangheer. The property was mortgage-free.

In 2004 a mortgage advance of £156,000 was obtained when Farook Hussain lied about his employment and income, saying he earned £45,000 a year working as a salesman for the Badham Factory in Hadley, Telford.

Money advanced on the house was later used to purchase a three-bedroom terrace house in Watling Street, Wellington.

The mortgage application was in the name of his wife, Shabana Farook, who signed an application for a £96,000 mortgage.

At the time the Hussains claimed they had "separated" and Shabana Farook falsely said she was a shift manager at the Badham factory earning £27,000 a year.

In 2007 Farook Hussain had applied for a further £150,000 advance on the Mill Bank property.

During later inquiries factory owner Chander Badham said he that had "never heard" of the Hussain family.

Meanwhile, Abbas Hussain, who was married to Hussain's daughter, Sonia Farook, gave false details of his income to get a £100,000 mortgage to buy a house in Buildwas Road, Ironbridge, for which he was able to provide a £25,000 deposit.

He was involved in two further attempts to secure mortgages by falsely claiming his business – AAA Scrap Vehicle Recovery – generated almost £40,000 a year.

The first mortgage offer was not taken up, but £90,000 was paid by the Abbey Building Society for the purchase of a semi-detached house in Belvidere Road, Shrewsbury, in April 2009.

At the time of the fraud trial in 2012 Abbas Hussain was serving an 18-month prison sentence for his role in a £40,000 "cash for crash" insurance fraud.

Farook Hussain was jailed for eight-and-a-half years following a trial in 2012.

Abbas Hussain, 33, of Mayfield Drive, Shrewsbury, was jailed for three years for his part in the money laundering and mortgage frauds at the same time as Farook Hussain. He has since been released on licence, having served half of the sentence.

At a sentencing hearing at Birmingham Crown Court yesterday, Shabana Farook, 46, was given an eight-month sentence, suspended for 18 months, after admitting dishonestly obtaining a mortgage by deception.

Omar Farook, 23, was jailed for 12 months yesterday after pleading guilty to two offences of perverting the course of justice by breaching financial restraint orders imposed on his parents four years ago.

The court heard police investigating the family froze their assets while inquiries were being carried out back in 2009, leaving them with £250 a week living expenses.

After the court imposed the restraint order on the family in 2009 both Hussain and his son Omar were finding ways to obtain cash without knowledge of the authorities.

Initially, Omar Farook broke the order in 2010 by taking control of the Watling Street property from his mother.

It was rented out and he insisted that the monthly rent – said to be between £450 and £600 – was paid to him in cash.

He was said have received around £8,500 and also produced a false document to say he had been the landlord prior to the restraint order being imposed.

At the same time Farook and his father were deliberately flouting the court order by buying and selling cars. They sold a Toyota Land Cruiser owned by Farook Hussain for £11,500 in cash to a buyer in Northern Ireland. The pair then used the money to pay cash for a Chrysler 300 in Essex which was handed over at 1am at a petrol station – a deal caught on CCTV.

The car was registered in a false name and Omar Farook paid £1,200 for alloy wheels and kept the vehicle hidden from police by parking it at the Buckatree Hotel on the outskirts of Wellington.

Brothers' criminal empire collapsed after boasting 'crime does pay':

The sentencing of the Shropshire family is part of the fall-out from the collapse of the criminal empire once ruled by Thomas Scragg.

Scragg, who lived near Solihull, used his payroll business to steal more than £26 million in PAYE tax between 2002 and 2007.

Police later found £8 million of stolen tax between 2007 and 2008. He used the money to fund a lavish lifestyle for himself and his henchmen, Wolverhampton brothers Carl and Anthony Johnson, 49 and 51.

In total he paid the brothers about £2.4 million in return for "protection".

They used the money to fund a lavish lifestyle, buying a Lamborghini Murcielago, Bentley Continental, Porsche Cayenne and Ferrari Spider.

They were only caught after neighbours, who became suspicious over their new-found wealth, went to police upon hearing them boasting, "crime does pay", police said.