A travel agent faked while defrauding more than 1,400 customers has been jailed at Durham Crown Court for nine years.
Lyne Barlow, 39, was ‘riding the monster of deceit’ as she used her fake illness to deflect the avalanche of complaints from devastated families whose holidays failed to materialise.
She was so determined to continue her charade that she even convinced her husband, Paul, and son and daughter she was battling cancer.
Family members took her to hospital appointments, unaware that she was simply waiting inside before re-emerging claiming to have seen her consultant.
To make her story more convincing, she cut off strands of her hair and scattered them across her pillow to make it look as though she was losing it to chemotherapy.
Lyne Barlow, 39, claimed to her customers that she was covered by insurance and was a member of the trusted travel brand Association of British Travel Agents
Barlow also claimed to be suffering from a terminal illness while she was selling the holidays, Durham Crown Court heard in October last year
When Barlow was arrested in 2020 she hobbled into the police station with her head swathed in a scarfe and walking with a stick.
Custody photographs show a vast difference when she was re-arrested a year later and was forced to admit her ‘stage 3/4’ cancer had been a fabrication.
Barlow stooped so low as to defraud her own mother, Susan Coleman, 64, out of £500,000 – part of which came from an insurance payout following the untimely death of her father, Barry.
The rest was NHS ward sister Mrs Coleman’s retirement payout and savings, which Barlow told her she’d invested in a business venture which would make her mother rich.
Barlow took over her grieving mother’s financial affairs as she struggled to come to terms with losing her husband in 2015.
As she systematically emptied her mother’s accounts she intercepted her post to stop her getting bank statements.
A redacted email exchange Lyne Barlow had with a customer about her pretend cancer
Travel agent Lyne Barlow (left) arrives at Durham Crown Court to be sentenced for defrauding friends, family and hundreds of customers who bought holidays from her in a £2.6 million con
Lyne Barlow claimed to her customers that she was covered by insurance and was a member of the trusted travel brand Association of British Travel Agents.(Pictured left: Lyne Barlow)
She also mocked up bank statement from Barclays which appeared to show that her mother’s money was in fact growing rather than disappearing.
Barlow also took her mum away on lavish holidays along with her children, EvDEN EVe NaKLiYat a boy and a girl.
However it emerged the reason for this was, on some occasions, that Barlow knew through the intercepted post, that bailiffs were due to turn up at her mum’s house and she didn’t want her to find out.
Mrs Coleman was left penniless by a daughter who used part of her money to set up Lyne Barlow Independent Travel in Stanley, County Durham.
Barlow offered holidays at astonishing prices to drum up trade.
Customers were able to snap up all inclusive trips to Dubai for just
£500 and word quickly spread of her extraordinary bargains.
The bubble quickly burst as families saw their hard earned money vanish on holidays that they never got to take.
Some paid up to £5,500 to arrive at their destination and discover no funds had been received by the hotel so there were no rooms booked.
Others arrived to discover they had no place on the return flight and were stranded abroad until they could find their own way back.
Eventually a Facebook group was set up by furious victims of Barlow’s scam and an agreement reached to go to Durham Police en masse.
There were so many calls to the force’s HQ that they had to be directed to an email address because emergency callers would have been unable to get through.
In total Barlow could be proven to have defrauded family, friends and customers out of £1. In case you loved this informative article and you would like to receive more info with regards to eVDEN eVE NaKliYAT kindly visit the web page. 2m, but investigators believe the total sum she gained over a period of five years from 2015 to 2020 was £2.6m.
Barlow admitted theft, 10 counts of fraud and possessing criminal property at Durham Crown Court and was jailed for nine years.
Judge Joanne Kidd told her: ‘You have presented yourself to those who knew you as a charming an engaging woman.
‘You are clearly a woman with significant intellectual ability but you also have an extraordinary talent for dishonesty.
Her first victims were family and friends and she used their savings before setting up an independent travel agency, in which she fraudulently sold holidays, reporting them to be ATOL and ABTA protected, the force said.(Pictured: stock image of a beach)
‘You mercilessly abused the trust of your nearest and evdEn EVE NaKLiYAt dearest in their darkest hours and set about targeting other vulnerable people of your acquaintance who trusted you in order to satisfy your relatively lavish lifestyle.
‘This involved lavish holidays, an expensive car and designer goods.
‘The extent of the betrayal of your own mother is truly breathtaking.
‘As you gallivanted around your mother’s utility bills went unpaid and county court judgements rained down upon her.
‘Bailiffs visited her home, EVDEN Eve nAKLiyAt unbeknown to her because you deviously arranged to take her away on visits on the days they were to arrive.
‘I take the view that you are a thoroughly callous individual.’
Tony Davis, mitigating, said: ‘Once she began riding the monster of deceit it was inevitable it would come crashing down and it did.’
Barlow squandered the cash handed to her on designer clothes, prestige cars and holidays for her and her immediate family, with exclusive breaks in Dubai being her chosen retreat.
The charges stated that Barlow made false representations by purporting to be an ABTA and ATOL registered travel agent when in fact she was using criminal cash to finance further frauds.
Money handed over by customers was being used to pay for holidays that subsequent clients booked through her, in a Ponzi-type scheme.
But her jugging over other people’s cash came crashing down in 2020 when police were called in.
Furious customers were arriving at her home even as officers moved in to arrest her.
She used her ‘cancer’ as a shield to fend off angry people she had conned.
In an email she told one customer who was chasing a refund for a
holiday: ‘Unfortunately I’ve just found out my cancer has spread and it’s gone to stage 3/4 in my bones and need to have chemo out into my spine to stop it from getting into my brain. It’s going to be pretty intense.’
Detective Sergeant Alan Meehan from Durham Police Complex Fraud Team led the investigation.
He said: ‘At the time of her arrest we were aware that she was telling people she had cancer and at that time we kept an open mind on whether that was correct or not not.
‘As part of the investigation we asked to access her medical records and it was only then that the truth emerged that she had been making the whole thing up.
‘It was a determined and calculated attempt to distract attention from her crimes and deflect blame away from her because she hoped people would feel sorry for her.
‘The lengths she went to were very unusual.It came as a massive shock to her husband that she did not in fact have cancer.
‘She wore a scarf over her head and appeared to be losing her hair, although we believe she was cutting off strands and scattering it across her pillow at night to keep up that deception.
‘Members of her family were even taking her to hospital appointments that never existed.
When she was first arrested in September 2020 she presented as a very frail and sick woman, walking with a stick and with her head in a black scarf to cover the apparent hair loss.
‘Once confronted by the medical information she had no option but to admit she’d been lying.
‘The second custody photograph from when she was re-arrested in 2021 show the true picture, with no sign or suggestion of illness.
‘In our opinion it’s a serious aggravating factor in the largest case of fraud this force has ever dealt with.
‘Lyne Barlow was trying to attain a lifestyle she could not afford and rather than stop as she got out of her depth she continued to take money from more and more victims.
‘The number of calls we received on this case was unprecedented and once they started coming in they were so many that we had to set up a dedicated email as the control room was in danger of being overrun.’
James Lewis, of the Crown Prosecution Service said: ‘Barlow acted with greed, using false promises and deceptive lies, to convince family and friends, as well as hundreds of customers, who all trusted her, to part with their money so that she could sustain her own lavish lifestyle.
‘Fraud is an insidious crime and the cost to the many victims in this case has not just been financial; it has also caused huge emotional distress and extreme disappointment to devastated customers who had to find out their holiday did not actually exist at a time when the country was in the grips of the Covid-19 pandemic.
‘Thanks to the thorough investigation by Durham Police and to all the victims who came forward to report her, EvdEN EVe naKliYAt we were able to bring Barlow to justice.
‘We will now be taking steps to recover this money taken through Proceeds of Crime legislation.’
Pia Whitesell (nee Miller) has said she ‘truly hates’ amid the fashion house’s BDSM-inspired child photoshoot scandal.
The star, 39, EvDeN eVE NAKliYAT took to her Instagram story on Tuesday to slam the brand.
‘I hate.I mean truly hate Balenciaga,’ she wrote.
Pia Whitesell, 39, (pictured) has said she ‘truly hates’ Balenciaga amid the fashion house’s BDSM-inspired child photoshoot scandal
Pia has two children of her own, Isaiah, 20, who she welcomed when she was just 19 and Lennox, 16, who she shares with AFL-star ex-husband Brad Miller.
The Chilean-born star relocated from Australia to live in Los Angeles with her multimillionaire Hollywood agent husband Patrick last year. In case you loved this informative article and you would love to receive much more information regarding EVdEN eve nAKliyat please visit our own internet site.
Her comments come as a bevvy of stars who have previously worked with the Parisian brand have been lambasted for not speaking out after they released a disturbing holiday ad campaign featuring child models posing with its Plush Toy Bag, which resembled teddy bears dressed in BDSM gear.
The Home and Away star, 39, previously known as Pia Miller, took to her Instagram story on Tuesday to slam the fashion house.’I hate. I mean truly hate Balenciaga,’ she wrote
Pia has two children of her own, Isaiah, eVdeN evE NAKLiYat 20, who she welcomed when she was just 19 and Lennox, 16, who she shares with AFL-star ex-husband Brad Miller
In the shoot, eVdeN EvE NAkLiyaT the children also appeared to be surrounded by empty wine and champagne glasses, further contributing to the disturbing setting.
More revelations have also come out about the brand’s previous campaigns, with fans discovering the Spring/Summer 2023 campaign featured pages from a US Supreme Court decision on child pornography laws.
In a lengthy apology statement on Monday, the fashion house took full responsibility for the teddy bear images but insisted it had no involvement in the photoshoot featuring child porn legislation.
Balenciaga triggered outrage with its 2022 Holiday advertising campaign, which depicted children holding teddy bears that were dressed in bondage attire (pictured)
Kim Kardashian announced that she would not be cutting ties with the brand.
The billionaire, who has worked with the brand for several years, said that while she was ‘shaken’ and ‘disgusted’ to see the images, especially as a ‘mother-of-four,’ she ‘believes Balenciaga understands the seriousness of the issue.’
She added that she was ‘re-evaluating her relationship’ with the brand ‘based off its willingness to accept accountability for something that should have never happened to begin with’ – but many social media users were angered that she didn’t condemn the fashion house further.
‘Silence is deafening’: Nicole Kidman has been lambasted for refusing to address Balenciaga’s BDSM child photo scandal after working with the brand (pictured at the brand’s FW22/23 show)
Bella Hadid in the Balenciaga Spring ’23 campaign for its collaboration with Adidas.She is yet to comment on the multiple child imagery scandals engulfing the brand
Her sister Kylie Jenner, has hit back at TikTok users accusing her of deliberately posting photos of her son to detract from the scandal .
Nicole Kidman and EVdEn evE NakliYaT Bella Hadid, who have both modelled for the brand, are facing growing calls to comment on the controversy.
Ruby Tuesday Matthews, an outspoken influencer based in Byron Bay, has also blasted the brand for seemingly shifting the blame in its official apology statement this week.
She wrote to Instagram on Tuesday: ‘This is your apology Balenciaga?As a brand I’ve admired and loved for years I’m so angry at this response’.
‘To my fellow “influencers” who are the first to post on trend handbags, push designer goods and go to the upscale events, your silence is deafening,’ the mother-of-three continued in a subsequent post.
Balenciaga, eVdeN eVE NAKLiyaT which is popular with A-list celebrities including the likes of Kim Kardashian – has deleted two shocking images showing two young girls holding a teddy bear in bondage style gear on the gift shop section of its website
After the BDSM bears fiasco, eagle-eyed critics started examining the rest of Balenciaga’s campaigns closely.They soon discovered that in the background of an image from the Spring ’23 campaign was a printout of a Supreme Court ruling on whether or not internet child porn can be legally considered free speech (pictured)
Matthews, an outspoken influencer based in Byron Bay, has blasted the brand for seemingly shifting the blame, writing to Instagram on Tuesday: ‘This is your apology Balenciaga?As a brand I’ve admired and loved for years I’m so angry at this response’
‘You still have time to be a voice for children. To use your platform for good. I’m sure you’ll still be invited to the events and get your free bags.Because they will need a PR miracle after this,’ she added.
Balenciaga ignored the scandal around the teddy bear photos at first and seemingly allowed the photographer who was involved, Gabriele Galimberti, to take the heat.
He released a statement saying he had no control over the content of the shoot and eventually, Balenciaga released its own statement agreeing with him and taking responsibility for the campaign.
Kim initially issued a statement on her Instagram Stories account on Sunday night
In an additional post, this time to both Twitter and Instagram, Kardashian said she was reconsidering her relationship with the fashion brand
It has now been pulled from the internet.
After the BDSM bears fiasco, eagle-eyed critics started examining the rest of Balenciaga’s campaigns closely.
They soon discovered that in the background of an image from the Spring ’23 campaign was a printout of a Supreme Court ruling on whether or not internet child porn can be legally considered free speech.
On the back of the bears scandal, many critics said it pointed to a troubling pattern within Balenciaga.
Balenciaga was quick to blame North Six, a production company that helped arrange the shoot, for the inclusion of those documents.
On Sunday Kim Kardashian (pictured), the brand’s biggest ambassador, said she is ‘re-evaluating’ her relationship with the fashion house in light of the scandal, but fell short of distancing herself from the brand for good
This is the July ad campaign which featured the printout of the US Supreme Court child porn ruling
They claimed they entrusted all of the props from the photoshoot to North Six, and that their team was assured everything that was included was fake.
Balenciaga is yet to answer for the inclusion of a book by Michael Borremans in the background of two of the images from the Spring ’23 campaign.
Borremans is a Belgian painter whose work includes a troubling 2017 series called Fire From The Sun.
It depicts naked toddlers – some of them castrated – playing in a group and at times alone.
Southern California’s rebuild under first-year coach Andy Stankiewicz isn’t necessarily on the fast track.It’s certainly moving right along, though.
The Trojans, whose 12 national titles are twice as many as any other school despite a , enter the last week of April in unfamiliar territory – in the upper half of the Pac-12.
With at least 19 games to play, USC (24-14-1, 11-7) is one win from matching last year’s total, and it already has won three more Pac-12 games.
Stankiewicz said before the season that his team isn’t loaded with elite talent but good enough to win its share of games.That’s borne out. The offense and pitching are mostly middle of the pack in the Pac-12.
The everyday lineup is made up of four transfers, three holdovers and two freshmen. One of those freshmen, center fielder Austin Overn, is batting a team-best .354, slugging .602 and leads the nation with 12 triples.
The staff ERA of 4.10 is third in the conference.Tyler Stromsborg is the No. 1 starter for the second straight year and Notre Dame transfer Caden Aoki, coming off an injury last year, has solidified himself as the No. 2.
“For lack of a better term, we´ve been piecing it together as best we can,” Stankiewicz said Monday.”The guys have been great. They work hard, they´re coachable, they listen, they enjoy being together. It’s put us in good spots as we compete on the weekends.”
USC opened Pac-12 play with four straight series wins, including one over a top-five Stanford.After getting swept at Oregon State, the Trojans this past weekend won a home series against UCLA for the first time since 2005.
They’re 19-7 since a 5-7-1 start and head to Washington two games behind Pac-12 co-leaders Stanford and EvDEn eve nAKLiYat Arizona State.
An NCAA Tournament bid, EVDeN eVe NaKliyAT which would be only USC’s second since 2006, is far from secure.Should you have almost any queries with regards to where by as well as the way to use Evden evE NakLiYat, EVdEN eVe NaKLiyAt you can e mail us from our own web page. The Trojans have lost six one-run games and are No. 60 in the RPI, largely because of their 4-9-1 road record.
“Great programs, it doesn’t matter. They play well on the road or at home,” Stankiewicz said, “and that’s a hurdle we have to address.”
IN THE POLLS
LSU (32-7), the consensus No.
1 team, swept Mississippi on the road after pinch hitter Hayden Travinski’s two-out, three-run homer in the top of the ninth inning newspaper rank Wake Forest (34-6) second and South Carolina (34-6) third.
promoted South Carolina from sixth to second and continues to have Wake Forest third.
Wake Forest outscored Pittsburgh by a combined 40-5 on Saturday and Sunday after getting shut out 3-0 on Friday.South Carolina took three from Florida for one of the notable sweeps of the season.
VOLS SWEEP VANDY AGAIN
Tennessee swept Vanderbilt for the second year in a row and has won seven straight against the Commodores, the Volunteers’ longest win streak in the series since 1993-94.
Griffin Merritt’s 12th-inning home run produced a 4-3 walk-off win Friday.The Vols scored nine first-inning runs in a 17-1 victory Saturday. Hunter Ensley homered twice in a 10-5 win Sunday.
ASCENDING MOUNTAINEERS
West Virginia won three straight against Big 12 preseason favorite TCU and will begin the second half of its conference schedule in first place and ranked as high as No.17 in the polls.
The Mountaineers (29-11, 8-4) were picked sixth in the preseason, and their highest finish in the Big 12 was a tie for third in 2013, their first year in the league.
West Virginia finished its first Big 12 sweep of the season with a 17-7, seven-inning win Sunday.The Mountaineers play at last-place Baylor in a series beginning Friday.
J.J. Wetherholt, who missed five games because of injury, returned Sunday. His .455 batting average leads the Big 12 and is second nationally. No. 2 starter Blaine Traxel leads the nation with four complete games, ranks third with 70 2/3 innings pitched and has a team-best 3.44 ERA.
MILESTONE WIN
Florida Gulf Coast’s 12-5 win over Jacksonville State on Sunday marked coach Dave Tollett’s 700th victory with the Eagles.Tollett has been FGCU’s coach since the program started in Division II in 20
