Five charged over mortgage fraud and money laundering

Two men and three women have been charged with a number of offences in connection with mortgage fraud and money laundering in Rochdale.

Derrick Cullen, 42, and Tracy Orme, 39, both of Hillcrest Road, Castleton, Jason Simm, 39, and Diane Watterson, 35, both of Edenfield Road, Rochdale, and Linda Ismail, 62, of Ridgeway Street, Manchester, have been charged with 18 offences.

The 18 charges include fraud, money laundering and false accounting and all five are due to appear at Rochdale Magistrates' Court later this month.

The charges relate to an operation, codenamed Operation Florin, launched after officers found up to a quarter of a million pounds worth of cannabis at a house in Littleborough in April 2010.

Officers from the Pennine Neighbourhood Policing Team then began an investigation into the ownership of that and other properties in Rochdale and Manchester.

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