Rogue traders have been warned they will be pursued and prosecuted in the courts, after a businessman was ordered to pay almost £90,000 in fines and costs for running an illegal indoor market in Bradford.

Mohammed Saeed, 55, and his 27-year-old son Khalid “flagrantly” breached a Stop Notice issued by Bradford Council to prevent them trading as retailers, Bradford Crown Court heard.

The Council had imposed the notice, the first it had issued in 20 years, because the illegal market, at Beckside Business Park, in Beckside Road, Lidget Green, was having a detrimental effect on legal traders in the city.

But Judge John Potter said their continued trading were deliberate acts undertaken in the face of strong advice to cease.

The judge told the father and son, who were convicted of two charges of contravening a Stop Notice, they had “blind disregard” of the notice, and had shown “rank stubbornness” in failing to respond to entreaties from the Council to avoid breaking the law.

Judge Potter said the defendants were the joint operators of Tradex Bazaar, an indoor market selling Asian clothes at the Beckside Road premises. Mohammed Saeed was the sole director and proprietor of the company. His son worked as a manager, but for little remuneration.

Tradex rented the premises from the Italian Furniture Company, owned by Mohammed Saeed’s wife and other members of the family.

IFC applied to planners to change the use of the site from industrial to retail, which would have allowed the legal operation of an indoor market. The application was refused, in May last year, by Bradford Council because allowing the market to trade would have a detrimental effect on the lawful trade of other markets, and cause likely traffic congestion.

But Judge Potter said: “Notwithstanding a lack of planning permission, Tradex had opened a market for business as long ago as August 2011.”

The Council issued an enforcement notice, including the Stop Notice, last July, to prevent the premises being used as a market.

Council officials met Mohammed Saeed to try to ensure any losses by the closure – particularly to traders who had rented stalls – were ameliorated.

But Judge Potter said: “The local authority’s attempts to assist you in this way were ignored. You continued to operate the market despite being well aware that it was in breach of the Stop Notice and legal action may be commenced against you.

“The reason for this intransigence on your behalf is easy to discern – Tradex and IFL were making significant sums of money from the operation.”

The judge told Mohammed Saeed that Tradex received up to £70,000 per month in rent from stallholders between the issuing of the Stop Notice and the start of the trial and was generating significant profits for him.

Judge Potter told Khalid Saeed, a qualified barrister who said he had put his legal career on hold to help his father: “I am told your sole income is money given to you by your parents – a condition I have some difficulty in accepting, though for the purposes of sentencing, I will.”

The judge said his conviction could affect Khalid’s ability to practice as a barrister, and his father might have to sell the family home to pay the financial penalties.

The judge said the minimum financial benefit accrued had been £85,500 by the father and £4,000 by his son.

He fined Mohammed Saeed £50,000 and ordered him to pay the prosecution costs of £38,635, with 18 months imprisonment in default.

Khalid Saeed was fined £4,000 with two months imprisonment in default.

Both were given six months to pay.

After the case, Bradford Council leader David Green said the pair manipulated the planning process.

He said: “The victims in this are the retailers whose businesses have been affected by this illegal market. The level of the fines and the judge’s remarks demonstrates the seriousness of this, in terms of how it has affected the lives of honest, hardworking people.

“I hope it sends out a message to anybody who might seek to do the same in the future, that we will prosecute.

“A large number of traders have suffered a dramatic drop in takings, 30-50 per cent, since the illegal market opened, and put some of the businesses in jeopardy.”

Shopowner Habib Rehman, who runs a clothes boutique in White Abbey Road and organised a campaign against the illegal market, said: “We are delighted with the outcome. It has taken a long time but we have got justice.

“Mr Saeed did not bother about the law or the rules, and 200 shopkeepers suffered. We lost 60-70 per cent of business. It has not been easy but we have clung on.”