Eight fraudsters including a crooked solicitor have been convicted of operating an illegal land investment scam that raked in more than £4million from victims. Using several company names, the gang sold plots of land they claimed were ripe for development but which were mainly on the Green Belt with no chance of gaining planning consent. A court hearing collapsed last year when barrister Alex Cameron argued that legal aid cuts ordered by his brother, the Prime Minister, meant defendants could not get a fair trial. But a resumed hearing has gone ahead and on Monday the Financial Conduct Authority, which investigated the scam, revealed that ringleader Scott Crawley, 37, from South London, had been jailed for eight years. Solicitor Dale Walker, 54, from Sevenoaks in Kent, made almost £900,000 from the fraud. He was sentenced to five and a half years in prison. I warned more than three years ago that Walker was linked to at least six land scams, and had been fined £10,000 for offences involving clients’ money.....Read more here