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Written by rosalind renshaw

Former ‘Apprentice’ contestant Christopher Farrell, 29, faces jail after falsifying a string of mortgage applications. He inflated salaries and even invented jobs for his clients.

Farrell worked as a mortgage broker for two years at Mortgages4Plymouth. He was desperate to meet his monthly £5,000 target and earn a bonus to top up his £1,600 a month salary.

His clients had no idea Farrell was submitting false applications on their behalf.

Farrell, from Merseyside, was originally arrested last August, shortly before the series was aired. He initially denied the frauds and tried to blame a colleague.

He was fired in week eight of the show by Lord Sugar, who told him he was a ‘nice guy’ but lacked the ‘ruthless streak’ necessary to succeed.

At Plymouth Magistrates Court, Farrell admitted four counts of fraud and asked for another three to be taken into consideration.

David Gittins, prosecuting, said: ”Christopher Farrell started working at mortgages4Plymouth in November 2007 and worked there until he was told ‘You’re fired’ in August 2009.”

Farrell joined Mortgages4Plymouth after leaving the Royal Marines. But the court heard that he struggled to support his wife and child, now seven, on his salary.

He created payslips, amended letters from ‘employers’ and increased incomes on mortgage applications.

In one case, he increased a client’s salary of £40,000 to £125,000, resulting in a £570,000 mortgage. He inflated the salary of another by £6,500, ensuring she was given a mortgage by Santander bank.

He created two false payslips in other cases. In one, he said that the client was employed by Lewisham Council in London, but was caught out when he left a phone number on the payslip bearing a Plymouth phone number, as he had used a Plymouth payslip as a template.

The court heard that none of his clients had since defaulted on the payments.

Tracey Baker, in mitigation, told the court Farrell only stood to gain a small amount from the scam and was ‘pressured’ into it after struggling to make ends meet.

Farrell will be sentenced at Plymouth Crown Court on January 28.

Last September, Farrell admitted two charges of possessing an offensive weapon after police found an extendable baton and a knuckleduster in his car after being called to his home following a domestic row.

His wife did not press charges and Farrell was given a two-year conditional discharge and ordered to pay £847 costs.

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