A BURNLEY magistrate has appeared in court charged with a £360,000 mortgage fraud.

Shanaz Hussain, 39, is charged in connection with a transaction involving a property in Manchester Road.

Peter Wild, prosecuting, said it was the Crown’s case that fraudulently prepared documents were used to obtain a second mortgage on the building,which did not belong to the defendant.

“The Crown says that as a result £360,000 was deposited into the defendant’s Lloyds TSB bank account,” said Mr Wild.

Blackburn magistrates heard she had been charged with committing fraud by dishonestly making a false representation that Mazhar Hussain, her estranged husband, had agreed to a mortgage being obtained on a property in Manchester Road intending to make a gain of £360,000 for herself.

She is also charged with possessing a copy of Mazhar Hussain’s passport, a Utility Warehouse bill and a water bill all purporting to have been certified by a solicitor for use in connection with fraud.

Hussain is further charged with possessing a Land Registry form purporting to be signed by Mazhar Hussain for use in connection with fraud and a declaration of solvency said to be signed by Mazhar Hussain and certified by a solicitor.

All the charges relate to a period between January 12 and March 30.

A police spokesman said the couple had separated after around 20 years of marriage.

The magistrates directed the case should be heard at the Crown Court and Hussain was remanded on bail for the preparation of committal papers.

Hussain, of Manchester Road, Burnley, did not give any indication of her likely plea.