THE former owner of a fine dining pub has been cleared of taking part in a mortgage fraud scam worth £35m.

Philip Barker, who ran The Black Bull, in Moulton, between Richmond and Darlington, was acquitted by a jury at Southwark Crown Court of involvement in any conspiracy to defraud or commit corruption.

Mr Barker, 47, who was granted permission for a controversial plan to expand the pub with a conference centre and 15 letting rooms in March 2009, was cleared of the offences more than two years after being charged alongside seven other men.

The entrepreneur, of Harrogate, had also helped two York pubs and a hotel out of administration in 2010.

The charges had related to a fraud which saw people's properties remortgaged without their knowledge and a solicitors firm go out of business.

Pilot Mark Entwistle, 47, solicitor Jonathan Gilbert, 48, mortgage broker Matthew Robinson, 42, and accountant Nicholas Pomroy, 58, obtained illegal mortgages and loans on a number of properties and development sites, conning 12 different lenders in the process, Thames Valley Police said.

The men were jailed in July for a total of 34 years following a 26-week trial at Southwark Crown Court, but the convictions can only now be reported after reporting restrictions were lifted.