A FRAUDSTER who used a false name to secure thousands of pounds in credit as his curry shop went bankrupt has been jailed.

Farid Hassan, who ran the Bangla Indian restaurant in Bridgwater, also made £250,000 by selling six properties to his wife and ex-wife to stop creditors getting hold of them as bankruptcy loomed, a court has heard.

Hassan, 48, was jailed for three years last week after being convicted of six counts of fraud and six counts of fraudulently selling different properties at an earlier trial.

Sentencing Hassan, now of Bradford-on-Avon, Judge Graham Hume Jones said: “You lied, and lied and lied. You went so far as to accuse others of behaving improperly.

"You have accepted full responsibility but it’s a pity you didn’t before you went to the expense of a trial. I accept you are remorseful. If you are genuinely remorseful that cancels out the aggravating features.”

The court heard how the total loss to businesses and the taxpayer was between £340,000 and £370,000.

Taunton Crown Court was told how Hassan sometimes used the name Ali Almas when obtaining credit fraudulently.