Conmen duped Eastenders star into ad for £1m fraud

Zulkernan Mahmood, Rehan Yousaf and Jonathan O'Grady (pictured) were sentenced along with David Goody

A gang of home improvement conmen who hired EastEnders star June Brown to advertise their business have been sentenced for fraud.

The group, which offered services across Yorkshire and Derbyshire, claimed to be part of a government energy efficiency scheme and are believed to have swindled more than £1m from victims.

They used Ms Brown, best known for her role as Dot Cotton in the BBC One soap, in a TV ad encouraging people to use their services.

Lord Michael Bichard, who chairs National Trading Standards, said the group had left people "living in structurally unstable properties".

'Damage done'

The group had used fake names to hide their true identities, secured business by misrepresentation, knowingly delivered defective services and persuaded customers to pay substantial deposits for substandard work, according to Trading Standards.

There is no suggestion Ms Brown, who died in 2022, was aware of the group's illegal activities.

Zulkernan Mahmood, 36, of Bradford, West Yorkshire, and Rehan Yousaf, 47, also of Bradford, both admitted fraudulent trading and participating in a fraudulent business.

Jonathan O'Grady, 37, of Bridlington, East Yorkshire, was found guilty of fraudulent trading and participating in a fraudulent business.

David Goody, 54, of Bradford, admitted participating in a fraudulent business.

The defendants were sentenced at Leeds Crown Court on Friday following an investigation led by Trading Standards officers hosted by York City Council.

Lord Bichard said: "These men left many people with extensive remedial works required at their homes; some were left living in structurally unstable properties with no viable means of repairing the damage done due to the financial losses they incurred."

June Brown, who played Dot Cotton in Eastenders, featured in an advert for the company

Mahmood was jailed for six years and four months and was also handed a 10-year criminal behaviour order and disqualified from being a director for 14 years.

Yousaf was sentenced to two years and six months in prison, to run consecutively with a sentence of seven years and 11 months that he is currently serving.

He was also given a 10-year criminal behaviour order and was disqualified from being a company director for 12 years.

O'Grady was given a two-year suspended sentence and ordered to complete 220 hours of unpaid work. He was disqualified from being a director for six years.

Goody was ordered to complete 100 hours of unpaid work and disqualified from being a director for three years.

Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North or tell us a story you think we should be covering here.