A COUPLE who bought their £1.25m home with proceeds from their role in a £110m scam have been found guilty of conspiracy to falsify hundreds of documents for financial gain.

David and Elizabeth Liversidge, of Constable Burton, near Leyburn, North Yorkshire, are said to have received about £5m for their part in the con, which tricked more than 20 financial institutions, including the Bank of Scotland.

At the conclusion of a sixweek trial on Wednesday, a jury at Leicester Crown Court found the pair guilty of conspiracy to commit false accounting, by producing bogus invoices, which a third man, 44-year-old Max Fraser, used to persuade banks to loan millions.

Mrs Liversidge, 59, was cleared of conspiracy to defraud financial institutions, with jurors undecided in relation to the same charge against her 63-year-old husband.

The jury was discharged from reaching a verdict on this charge.

The court was told that Mr Fraser, who is awaiting sentence, having admitted his guilt before the trial, was the mastermind behind the fraud.

A fourth defendant, James Randall, was cleared of any involvement in the scam.

Prosecutor Miranda Moore said the con revolved around the creation of hundreds of fake invoices for machinery and pieces of equipment that either did not exist or had multiple hire-purchase agreements on them.

She said the Liversidges, who ran an oven business in Stoke-on-Trent, were given a five per cent payment for all the dodgy deals.

Miss Moore said: “They bought a £1.25m house outright, without a mortgage, and another house.

“Some companies were shut as a result of the fraud and one bank had to shut its office.

“The success of the fraud was because Max Fraser is a very charismatic man.

“He persuaded financial institutions to lend money on huge pieces of equipment.”

Mr Liversidge told the jury that all the couple’s business dealings with Mr Fraser, from Leicestershire, were taxed and accounted for.

He said: “Max told me it’s just a scheme and I believed him. I now know different.”

He said he checked with his accountants.

Mr Liversidge said: “No one told me it wasn’t right.”

He said the amount of money did not make him suspicious and added: “The bank saw it, everybody saw it and nothing was hidden.”

Mrs Liversidge did not give evidence during the trial.

The couple are due back in court at the end of next week for a pre-sentence hearing.