Lyne Barlow: County Durham fraudster was ‘breathtakingly dishonest’

Lyne Barlow blew more than £500,000 of her mother’s money following the death of her father and as her fraud started to catch up with her she set up a ‘Ponzi-style’ travel agency to rip off more 1,416 customers.

The callous con artist even fleeced the best man from her own wedding after turning on the tears as time began to run out on her scams.

Judge Jo Kidd sentenced the 39-year-old to nine years in prison for all of the offences she committed over a seven-year period starting within months of her father’s death.

Read more: Bogus travel agent who faked cancer treatment jailed 9 years for £1.2m holiday fraud

“You present yourself as an engaging and charming woman. You are clearly someone with intelligence but you have tremendous talent for dishonesty,” she said.

“The extent of your offending is truly breath-taking. While you galivanted on holidays, she was left with bills unpaid and county court judgments raining down on her.

“You are a truly callous individual.”

Angus MacDonald, prosecuting, said Barlow had managed to isolate her mother from the rest of their family when Covid restrictions were imposed and she convinced her mother that the risk of infection would kill her as a result of her spurious cancer claim.

He said the defendant spent five years intercepting her mother’s mail and even used some of her money to pay for expensive holidays without realising she was actually footing the bill.

Mr MacDonald added that Barlow booked the holidays to coincide with dates when bailiffs were expected to turn up at her mother’s door as her unknown debts spiralled out of control.

Barlow, formerly of Stanley, pleaded guilty to ten charges of fraud, one charge of theft and a further charge of possession of criminal property.

Tony Davis, mitigating, said his client’s arrest had come as a blessed relief to her and she fully understood the need for her to be punished and losing control of the ‘monster of deceit’.

“She is a broken, beaten and penniless woman,” he said. “She wants to apologise to each and everyone of her victims and of course there were many.”

He told the judge that Barlow had no excuse for what she did to her family, friends and would-be holidaymakers.

He added: “The monster of deceit she was riding at the time, she was simply not able to control it.”

Read next:

• 'Despicable' fraudster Lyne Barlow conned her own mother out of more than £500,000
• Flurry of calls about crooked travel agent almost jammed Durham police control room

Despite losing more than £500,000 to her daughter, Susan Colman wrote a letter to the judge offering the 39-year-old an olive branch back into the family fold, the court heard.

Her heartbroken mother wrote that ‘family’ is more important than anything despite being forced to come out of retirement as a result of Barlow completely emptying her bank accounts.

Other victims who handed over cash to the defendant included the best man at her wedding, neighbours and parents of her children’s friends.

Durham Crown Court heard how she lied about a terminal cancer diagnosis to pull on the heartstrings of her victims before turning to selling cheap holidays on Facebook.

Among the people she fleeced while operating her Lyne Barlow Independent Travel company included a man who booked and paid for his honeymoon with the con-artist but the trip never materialised.