A FAILED businessman who masterminded an elaborate fraud to fund a luxury lifestyle for his partner has been jailed for three-and-a-half years.

Stephen Hoyle stole the identities of dozens of unsuspecting people across the North to take out loans, mortgages and credit cards during his two-year con.

The exact scale of the fraud will never be known, but a court heard yesterday that it could have been as much as £300,000.

Police believe it would have topped £1m if 39-year-old Hoyle had not been stopped last November after some of his victims received letters concerning debt they knew nothing about.

Teesside Crown Court judge Tony Briggs said: "You were effectively a full-time professional fraudster for a significant period."

His barrister, Duncan McDiarmid, said Hoyle got involved in the fraud because of an "old-fashioned" desire to provide for his family and a string of failed jobs and business ventures.

Hoyle left the then Teesside Polytechnic, in Middlesbrough, in the mid-1980s after failing his first year exams, while his girlfriend, Helen Bell, went on to graduate with honours. Miss Bell, 40, worked in the Manchester area while Hoyle struggled through a variety of jobs before setting up a business, which flopped.

Hoyle took out seven fraudulent mortgages, worth £273,700, and had applications for a further eight, worth £543,000, being considered when police caught up with him.

An investigation also revealed he had taken out loans totalling £75,000 in other people's names, and racked up almost £63,000 debt on bogus credit cards.

Police found deposits of £390,000 on 21 bank or credit card accounts, and more than £130,000 going through Miss Bell's three accounts in one year.

Hoyle had bought and leased six houses in Middlesbrough and one in Manchester, and was trying to buy another eight in those areas when his fraud was uncovered.

Police discovered driving licences containing Hoyle's picture but with different names, 70 credit cards and details on up to 140 identities when they raided his home in Pelham Street, Middlesbrough.

A lap-top computer had a spreadsheet with 69 names, detailing bank accounts, credit cards, loans, pin numbers, addresses, email addresses, passwords and security-check words.

Hoyle enjoyed frequent foreign holidays, drove an expensive car, and built up a portfolio of buy-to-let homes.

Hoyle admitted conspiracy to defraud and conspiracy to transfer the proceeds of criminal conduct.