A 'respected' member of the community has begun a prison sentence after a £1 million plus mortgage fraud was exposed by police investigating a series of motoring offences. Leo Kusi-Appiah, of Digswell Road, Welwyn Garden City, built up a huge portfolio of properties all over the country after making fraudulent mortgage applications. The 42-year-old filled out self certification forms in the name of his wife Tracey, claiming she earned £100,000 a year to dupe banks into approving the mortgages. And the keen martial artist and qualified psychiatrist would probably have got away with the scam if police looking into relatively minor parking and speeding infringements had not rumbled him. Several cars linked to the defendant had picked up tickets over a number of years, but each time when asked to give the details of the driver, it was never the defendant. Police became suspicious and during the execution of a search warrant found the damning evidence of the mortgage fraud. Kusi-Appiah pleaded guilty to 12 counts of obtaining a money transfer by deception and was found guilty after a trial of ten counts of perverting the course of justice for providing false driver information. Recorder Martin Griffith jailed him for four years and nine months. Tracey Kusi-Appiah, the mother of their eight-year-old daughter, was found guilty of one charge of perverting the course of justice. She was given a 26-week suspended prison sentence and ordered to carry out 50 hours unpaid work. Both were of previous good character, and in mitigation at St Albans Crown Court on Friday, Mr Kusi-Appiah's defence painted a picture of an ambitious man from a respectable family who brushed shoulders with the elite in Ghana. The defendant had established a hospital in the Ghana in 2001 and had strong contacts with the president of Ghana. He taught martial arts to underprivileged youths and was involved with a church. During his time remanded in custody, his cellmate had tried to hang himself and the defendant had chosen to stay with him and use his profession to help the man the court heard. He is now bankrupt and owes £200,000 in tax and has overall debts of up to £500,000. His defence said: “He has lost everything. He has put his family, his income and his home in jeopardy and when he comes out of prison will have to restart completely.” Source: This is Local London