A rogue landlord lived a luxury lifestyle in a £1m mansion - while renting death-trap Victorian slums to vulnerable families.

Israr Fazal, 54, is now facing jail after council and fire investigators found a catalogue of catastrophic conditions at five flats on Stockport Road, Longsight.

He ran the flats with son Shahbaz and charged families, mostly foreign nationals with children as young as two-months-old, £100 per week.

But while putting tenant's lives at risk by leaving them in squalid and dangerous conditions, Israr owned a footballer's style house worth £1.3m on Brooks Drive in Hale Barns, Cheshire.

Son Shabaz, 30, also lived the high-life in a luxury home on Hale Road in Hale, Cheshire.

The pair were branded 'nightmare landlords' by a judge at Manchester magistrates court and council bosses compared the flats to Victorian 'slums'.

The court heard how council investigators, acting on a complaint, discovered a series of building damage and serious health and safety failings.

In one flat, rented by a couple with a young child, a first floor landing was littered with discarded furniture, mattresses, beds, fridges and washing machines.

Electric and gas metres were damaged and bare electrical wires fell from a ceiling, which had collapsed.

The flat's electrics had also been by-passed, the court heard.

Council enforcement officers contacted the fire service and their investigations discovered no fire alarms had been installed and no statutory fire risk assessments had been carried out.

Fire escapes were blocked and there was no means of escape, the court heard.

There was also no emergency lighting in the building.

Warren Spencer, prosecuting for the fire service, called the conditions catastrophic.

Mr Spencer added: "Clearly, in these premises there would have been an increased risk of fire because of the state of the flats.

"The concern of the fire service is that they had no co-operation whatsoever. "The premises contained, at any one time, around 12 people. Some were very young children."

Laura Raine, prosecuting for Manchester council, said residents reported complaints to Shahbaz but he did nothing.

He also ignored a series of legal notices to improve the conditions and failed to attend meetings.

Ms Raine added: "This landlord has put personal financial gain before the safety of these tenants.

"That is of great concern. Our officers have spent numerous hours on this case and have made numerous inspections. There has been great difficulty in locating exactly who was responsible."

Israr started the rental business with his son then passed it to him to run due to ill health.

The court heard Shahbaz has leased the properties beneath Naz Cash and Carry Ltd from a private company for five years.

He held a duty to manage them and ensure they were safe.

The council and the fire service, who worked together to bring the prosecutions, said legal and investigative costs since the flat's conditions emerged in 2006, topped £14,000.

Shahbaz, who is also known as Mohammad Ali and Mohammad Khan, pleaded guilty to four charges brought by Manchester council concerning housing conditions and nine charges brought by the fire service.

Israr, who was convicted and fined earlier this year for food hygiene offences at a separate cash and carry in Longsight, admitted six offences brought by the fire service.

Both men also pleaded guilty to an offence under the Bail Act after arriving late at court.

Deputy district judge David Robinson called them 'nightmare landlords' who ignored fire safety regulations and said their actions deserved greater punishment than he could impose in a magistrates' court.

He told them: "Your behaviour towards your tenants was shameful. You have shown contempt to their safety and well-being. You clearly have contempt for the law. "You placed a large number of people at risk, including children."

Manchester councillor Paul Andrews said: "It is absolutely shocking that a landlord in 21st century Manchester is content to let a family live in this kind of squalor, when he is living content in Hale Barns surrounded by rich footballers.

"Slum landlords should be a thing of the past and I hope this serves as a warning to others who think they can rent out revolting properties and get away with it."

Both men will be sentenced at Manchester crown court on June 29.