Mortgage fraudster to pay back £38k

Robert Kelbie had pleaded guilty to £145,000 in mortgage frauds to buy flats in the Capital, which he renovated and then sold on at a profit.

Sentenced at Edinburgh Sheriff Court yesterday, the 28-year-old was fined £4125 and had £34,000 confiscated under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

The court previously heard that Kelbie exploited the ease in obtaining the loans from sub-prime brands associated with major lenders prior to the credit crunch.

Kelbie, of Ratho Station, received a loan of £85,465 for a flat in Millar Crescent, Morningside, in October 2005 from the Kensington Mortgage Company in Reading, and £60,000 from The Mortgage Business (TMB), a subsidiary of Halifax Bank of Scotland in Leeds, in September 2007, for a flat in Brougham Street, Tollcross.

Kelbie admitted providing false personal income details, declaring he was earning £28,000 or £26,000 a year, to obtain the money.

Kelbie’s defence counsel, Susan Duff, told Sheriff Neil Mackinnon that a settlement had been reached for the payment by her client of £34,000.

Ms Duff said Kelbie had been working in the building trade and earning a regular income at the time of the offences. He had claimed he was earning more than he was to get a loan but did not realise it was criminal, she added.

She told the court that the offences had been committed by a young man out of a desire to better himself as UK house prices soared. She added: “Nobody expected the property bubble to burst.”

Lindsey Miller, head of the Crown’s serious and organised crime division (SOCD), said: “Robert Kelbie deliberately provided false information in order to secure mortgages on two Edinburgh properties.

“Because his offending exceeded a six-month period, under the Proceeds of Crime Act it is classed as a ‘lifestyle offence’ and allows the Crown and law enforcement to look at all of his income during the six years leading up to his arrest.

“Forensic accountants calculated that £351,370.13 in that period could not be accounted for legitimately and was his ‘criminal benefit’.

“Yesterday’s confiscation order for £34,000 represents the full amount which is available to us at this time.”

Kelbie was shot in the back in the car park of Bannatyne’s Health Club, Newcraighall, on October 20, 2010.

The ex-boxer managed to drive himself to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.

Kelbie’s shooting was followed days later by an assault on a man at a yard in Portobello, which was said to have been a revenge attack.