Granny from the land registry helped lawyer and banker steal empty homes from the elderly

By Stephen Wright and Claire Ellicott

Last updated at 10:55 PM on 2nd March 2012

A grandmother who worked for the Land Registry helped a gang make millions by stealing the homes of the elderly and vulnerable.

Surjeet Chana, 64, was a key figure in a plot that involved a solicitor, a bank manager and drugs traffickers seeking a second source of income.

The gang targeted empty houses – some of which belonged to elderly people who had moved into nursing homes – pretended to be the owners and sold them on to unsuspecting third parties.

Chana, who had been a respected member of her local Sikh community, used her position of trust to supply title deeds and ownership signatures.

Detectives say at least nine properties, together worth £3.8million, were targeted across South London, in Wimbledon, Streatham and Purley. Scotland Yard suspects that many more homes also changed hands illegally. They found £38,000 in cash in the loft of Chana’s £600,000 home in Purley.

FULL STORY: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2109539/Granny-land-registr...