A solicitor has been jailed for four years for her part in a multi-million pound buy-to-let mortgage fraud in Ipswich.

Olayemi Daniel, 47, had denied money-laundering and mortgage fraud but was found guilty by a jury at Ipswich Crown Court after a trial earlier this year.

Sentence was adjourned for a pre-sentence report to be prepared on Daniel by the probation service.

Jailing Daniel, of Lindisfarne Road, Dagenham, Essex, Judge David Goodin said her involvement was crucial to the fraud and had been “entirely voluntary”.

He said that particularly high standards of probity were rightfully expected of solicitors and she now faced losing her career as a result of her dishonesty.

Last year three other defendants involved in the fraud were jailed for between four and two years.

Ajayi Seun, 46, of Surrey, was jailed for four years after admitting conspiracy to defraud while Didi Jordan, 45, of Surrey, and Janet Mukasa, 49, of Kent, were sentenced to three years and two years’ imprisonment respectively after being convicted of conspiracy to defraud and money-laundering. During their trial the court heard the mortgage fraud was worth more than £5.5million and involved 35 properties in Ipswich. The fraud centred on the Foxgrove Gardens development off Foxhall Road, on the former site of Bull Motors.

Judge Goodin said: “This was a massive fraud on lending institutions principally, but also on occasionally the deception of borrowers.”

The court heard more than £5m went through the client account of a solicitors in London, where Seun was a partner.

Fictitious identities were created and documents were forged to obtain the money from lenders. However, some real names were used and borrowers were also deceived as to their borrowing capacity by the inflation of their income or prospects, which were submitted to the lending institutions.

Judge Goodin said they were “stung badly”, and the lenders were “massively defrauded”.

Ivan Krolick, for Daniel, said that her involvement had not been vital to the fraud and she had only got involved to keep her business going.

He said she made no financial gain apart from fees she charged for conveyancing work and had lost her career because of the case.