A FRAUDSTER who tried to con a bank out of £500,000 from somebody's else's account has been jailed for 30 months.

Ahsan Mahmood, 45, of Ronbury Close, Barrowford, is believed to have used information from an insider to try and defraud Barclays Bank in St James Street, Burnley.

He obtained the first £50,000 on September 12 last year. Along with an accomplice, he arranged for the transfer of two further amounts of £200,000 and £250,000. But he was arrested five days later when he went back to the bank after telephoning about the transfer.

Preston Crown Court was told that Mahmood, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud, and his unidentified accomplice went used a false driving licence and passport.

Mark Stuart, defending, said it had been a "sophisticated offence" and he said someone at Barclays must have provided the information that there was £500,000 in this particular account.

He said: "Without this information no-one would dream of entering a bank and taking so much money from an account."

He said he did not believe Mahmood played a leading role in the plot. He said: "Mahmood's involvement, while crucial to this offence, was not that of organiser and he was probably some way off being held responsible either for the idea or the initial execution of such a plan.

"His involvement was almost doomed to be detected because the account holder was bound to realise his money had gone missing and once that happened it was bound to be traced to the Burnley branch of the bank where the defendant was well known."

Mr Stuart described Mahmood as a man of good character who was well thought of within the business community and locally.

He said he was also licensed to act as an independent financial advisor.

Recorder of Preston, Judge Peter Openshaw QC, said: "It's obvious that people with considerable criminal skill and enterprise were behind this and yet Mr Mahmood does not strike me at all as a sophisticated fraudster.

"He committed this offence in a bank where he was well known as a long-standing customer which assured he would be detetcted.

"He did not seem to consider that when he returned to collect the remaining £450,000 the fraud would have been discovered and his arrest would be inevitable.

"It seems to me that he was engaged and also used by others. I am quite certain he did not devise this scheme and he was not, I am sure, the controlling mind of this enterprise but he was a willing participant who played his part in a clever and well-planned conspiracy to obtain large sums of money by deception."

Mr Openshaw said he had taken into account the fact Mahmood had no previous convictions and the number of positive references showing his high standing in the business community and local Asian community.

He said some credit had been given for his guilty plea, on August 9, despite originally pleading not guilty in December last year.