A MOTHER AND SON who conned banks out of more than £2 million have been jailed.

Bonnita Read, 64, was dubbed “too clever by half” by the judge as he sentenced her to three years in prison.

She had inflated her income on fraudulent loan applications - before roping in her son Niki Wood, 41, of New Road, Leigh, to help her with the scam.

It involved forging certificates, letters of reference and paperwork to take out 16 fraudulent mortgages in Leigh, Woodford Green, Ilford, and Chingford.

A jury at Blackfriars Crown Court found Read, of Mill Lane, Woodford Green, guilty of 12 counts of obtaining money by deception.

Wood was found guilty of four counts of the same offence and jailed for two years.