AN unqualified accountant who was part of the country's biggest ever mortgage fraud has walked free from court.

Four other people were jailed as a result of Operation Bamburgh - a seven-year probe into the £300m con.

But Peter Wardle, from Witton-le-Wear, County Durham, was spared a prison sentence at court today (Monday, November 30).

The 68-year-old was given a suspended jail sentence and a curfew for his role in the elaborate scheme.

His barrister, James Bourne-Arton, told Teesside Crown Court that Wardle was in the "back office".

He said his role was "very different from the others" and was "more passive" and "just recording figures".

Married granddad Wardle, of Garden House, admitted furnishing false information at an earlier court hearing.

He was in charge of accounting for both North East Property Buyers and Newcastle Home Loans Ltd, the court heard.

Other people involved in the companies deceived lenders and investors to fund lavish lifestyles for years.

The scam - involving more than 2,300 bogus mortgage applications - left hundreds of people bankrupt and homeless.

The man at the centre of the fraud was disgraced businessman David Purdie who was jailed for five-and-a-half years.

The 57-year-old - a neighbour of Alan Shearer - controlled both companies - and recruited the others.

Former Durham and Yorkshire cricketer Michael Foster, 43, from Houghton-le-Spring got three years and nine months.

Office boss and former insurance worker Linda Patterson, 57, from Newcastle, was given three years and two months.

Home valuer Steven Keay, 54, from Sunderland, received 23 months after he admitted furnishing false information.

The other three defendants all pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to defraud in front of Judge Howard Crowson.

Mr Bourne-Arton told the judge: "He gained nothing . . . it is difficult to imagine the scheme ever working."

Prosecutor Jane Bewsey, QC, told the court: "The scale of this fraud was truly massive. There are many, many losers.

"Individuals have been severely personally affected by the fallout from the collapse of this dishonest scheme."

Wardle admitted after his arrest it was unsustainable because the income from rent fell far short of mortgage payments.