Munsif Dad (60), Nadeem Dad (28), and Amer Dad (25), all of The Firs, Barkerhouse Road, and Ricardas Oleskevicius (30), of Fletcher Street, all Nelson, were all found guilty on Friday of conspiracy to defraud between March, 2003 and December, 2007 and money laundering.

Two further defendants who were said to have been involved in the alleged plot to cheat companies out of cash were cleared at the end of the month-long trial at Burnley Crown Court.

They are Fiza Tariq (21), of Manchester Road, and Majid Mahmood (27), of Kensington Street, both Nelson. All defendants had denied the allegations against them.

Judge Andrew Woolman remanded Nadeem and Amer Dad in custody until sentence on August 3rd at Preston Crown Court. Munsif Dad, who is said to have health problems, and Oleskevicius were granted bail. The judge warned the four custody was likely.

The jury had been told how, during the fraud, false claims were submitted for car crashes, building and roofing work – using forged invoices from companies that did not exist – and for several expensive, pedigree bulldogs which were said to have gone missing.

The invoices often had incorrect spellings in them and grammar was misused.

In one, supposedly from a roofing firm, whoever had typed it had hit the wrong key and the invoice stated it came from a "foofing" company.

The hearing had been told some of the claims made by the defendants and others connected to them were successful and some weren't.

Some were paid without questions, some were paid out after questions and some were withdrawn once an insurer started to ask questions.