Hardy confessed that he had gambled away £1.5m using money he took from his wife and daughters, a jury has heard.
Hardy is alleged to have forged his wife’s signature on the mortgage application but Hardy denies any dishonesty or wrongdoing.
The prosecution said that letters he wrote revealed that he had lost £1.5m on financial spread betting and had run up debts in his wife’s name to cover his losses.
Hardy, who is representing himself, pleaded not guilty to forgery, using a false mortgage application with intent to deceive the Kensington Mortgage Company and dishonestly obtaining a £400,000 money order between December 2006 and September 2008.
Martin Steen, prosecuting, said that on the application, Hardy claimed he was working as a locum dentist and earning £174,000 a year.
Steen said: “It is right there was a time when he qualified as a dentist,”
“He did initially practice as a dentist but that stopped. He didn't renew his application to the Dental Council and consequently was not registered as a dentist at the time.”
Hardy had also stated on the application form that he had no convictions other than for motoring offences but this was untrue, said Steen.
He said that police found a letter written by Hardy in which he said he had “run up huge debts and incurred judgements” in his wife's name to fuel his gambling habit.
In a letter to his wife he wrote that he had been forced out of the house rental market and into the stock market but he had lost heavily “on what was, in retrospect, betting”.
“I have pilfered all our resources,” he wrote. “I have lost your parents' house, my parents' house, your redundancy, Rosemary's money, £55,000 from Jean and Keith.
“I cashed in the £18,000 endowment we had. I have stolen all the girls' money, always thinking I could turn things around.”
Steen said that in another “to whom it may concern”, Hardy wrote “I wish to make it clear that I have falsely run up huge debts and incurred adverse credit and court judgements in my wife's name in order to feed my gambling habit with IG Index Ltd, to whom I have lost about £1.5m.
“The mortgage to Kensington was taken out without my wife's knowledge. I took out an Egg loan in her name online and ran up debts with Lloyds TSB and Virgin One bank.”
“There is no debt that Carol has that she is responsible for. All her loan and credit card debts were forged by me.”
Steen said he was not certain what Hardy's defence to the charges would be but he understood that he would be denying that he completed or submitted the mortgage application form.
“He says it was completed by an uncle who is now dead,” said Steen.
“He says 'when I said to my wife that I had forged her signature I was lying. I didn't – it is her signature”.
The trial continues.
