Police have confiscated £82,385 from a couple, following a hearing at Bradford Crown Court last Thursday.

Mohammed Imran, 32, and Saida Khalifa, 27, were ordered to pay the sum within 28 days or face 18 months and 15 months respectively in prison.

Both were convicted in July last year of offences including obtaining a fraudulent mortgage and money laundering.

Imran was given a 12-month suspended prison sentence and Khalifa was sentenced to a 12-month community order.

Prosecutor Heather Gilmore said Imran falsely claimed he worked as a pizza chef when he applied to Abbey National in September 2004 to re-mortgage the family home in Devonshire Street, Keighley. Four years later, he made a false declaration when applying for a mortgage for a £233,000 property in the town.

The confiscation is the latest in a series in Airedale and North Bradford which have seen officers seize more than £1.3 million from offenders in the past year. Detective Sergeant Dave Marston, of the Airedale and North Bradford POCA Team, said: “We are pleased with the results of this latest seizure.

“It demonstrates that those who attempt to benefit from frauds of this type should expect a real financial punishment.

“More cases are already lined up for the courts and we would again ask anyone who suspects their neighbours may be benefiting from crime to contact us.”