A second Bradford businessman is implicated in a national bank fraud, a jury has been told.

Juga Singh, 38, of Sangster Way, off Rooley Lane, has admitted using cash from a plundered Abbey account to fund a property deal.

The jury at Leeds Crown Court has been told Singh was the business associate of two Birmingham men on trial for conspiracy to defraud Abbey customers and money laundering.

Syed Shazad Ali, 40, of Thirkleby Royd, Clayton, Bradford, has also pleaded guilty to involvement in the fraud.

He has admitted a pivotal role in an identity theft scam in which wealthy Abbey savers were defrauded of hundreds of thousands of pounds by insiders at the bank.

The Crown says the fraud stretched from Kent to Scotland and spanned the Pennines.

On trial is Abbey assistant branch manager Gemma Eggleton, 20, who was only 18 when she is alleged to have played a key role in the scam.

Eggleton, of Kent, is accused of dishonestly closing down elderly people's investment accounts and issuing cheques to gang members using false identity.

It is alleged the money stolen ended up in a bank account in Marbella, Spain.

Eggleton denies three charges of conspiring to defraud Abbey customers in November 2004.

In the dock with her are brothers-in-law Manjit Power, 43, and Ajvinder Singh, 45. The former Birmingham shopkeepers deny conspiracy and money laundering.

The jury has heard Juga Singh played a key role in a plot to launder stolen money through a property deal.

It is alleged Manjit Singh deposited £30,000 in Juga Singh's bank account on October 26, 2004, to fund a deposit on a property in Liverpool.

Prosecutor Andrew Stubbs said the deal was specifically to launder money plundered from an elderly couple's bond account.

The jury heard Juga Singh successfully bid £201,000 for the property.

Ajvinder Singh told police Juga Singh wanted to manage and develop properties for him. He claims he loaned him £100,000 which has not been repaid.

Eggleton told the court she began working for the Abbey at 16 and was promoted to acting branch manager before she was 18.

Eggleton said she was working at the Sydenham branch in the autumn of 2004.

She said it was poorly run, short-staffed and had been targeted by bank raiders twice in the last 12 months.

She said the previous manager had collapsed with exhaustion and never returned.

She said that although she was given no training she was eager to learn and keen to be promoted.

She told the jury: "It wasn't a particularly nice branch. It had been raided twice and money had also gone missing. It was unstable, wasn't well run and had no manager half of the time."

She said it was extremely busy and time allocated for staff training was used to catch up on paperwork.

The trial continues.