Anger towards Lyne Barlow, when her cruel deception of a community, came to light was so high an arson attack was carried out at her house and she was forced to flee the area.

The mother-of-two never returned to her home in Charnwood, Stanley, after news of her arrest broke and spread quickly on the social media pages she used so effectively to exploit those who trusted her to arrange their holidays.

Hoisted by her own petard, people dissatisfied at being unable to get a refund grew as the country endured months of Covid lockdown restrictions and were unable to travel anyway.

Read more: Man conned out of £1,800 after booking Caribbean cruise

The Northern Echo: Detective Sergeant Alan Meehan Detective Sergeant Alan Meehan (Image: Sarah Caldecott)

Police acted after a flurry of calls reporting that Barlow was ripping people off by selling discounted luxury holidays over Facebook.

Police said some angry customers were at her home when officers arrived to question her.

Detective Sergeant Alan Meehan said: “Very quickly we made the decision to attend the address and effect an arrest.

“There were people attending because she was running the business from her home address and it was known that she did.

“People were trying clarifying details of their own holidays.

“There was a couple of parties, a group of four people at the door and another individual, who came to the door while we arrested her and conducted enquiries inside the house.

“Some were angry and concerned and others were relatively sympathetic towards her because she had been saying that cancer.”

Footage of her captured on a security camera in the police custody suite show hows Barlow wore a head scarf and walked with a crutch as part of her calculated ruse.

The arrest was made on September 9, 2020, and later that evening emergency services returned to the house after reports of a ‘firebomb attack’.

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DS Meehan said: “Following her arrest there was an arson attack on her house that was investigated by another police unit in our force.”

No-one was prosecuted in relation to the arson attack and the house is now owned by another family unconnected in any way to Lyne Barlow.

Police said more than 450 fraud-related crimes committed by Barlow were recorded, with approximately 1,400 victims.

Operation Wentletrap was launched in September 2020 to investigate allegations of holiday fraud by Lyne Barlow Independent Travel, which was operational between November 2019 and September 2020.

The fraud is believed to be in the region of £1.2 million but could be far higher.

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The Northern Echo: Lyne Barlow Lyne Barlow (Image: Contributor)

Barlow admitted ten charges of fraud, one charge of theft and one charge of concealing, converting, and transferring criminal property at Durham Crown Court in October 2022 and has now been jailed.

DS Alan Meehan said: “She made a conscious and deliberate decision to do what she did.

“There were points at which she could have put a stop to it all, but she carried on and now she is now paying the price for her actions.

“Sadly, so many people have been affected by what she did, lives have been changed forever and some will never be the same again.”