Crooked lettings agent in court again after row over solicitors

A lettings agent jailed in March for taking £220,000 from tenants and landlords is now in trouble over her legal representation.

Heather Crabb, who owned and operated Drake Homes in Plymouth from 2005 until 2016, had been exposed as buying a home in Florida, renting a luxury apartment, spending £3,000 on a flight to New York, and owning both a Land Rover and a Porsche.

She also used some of her lettings clients’ money to set up another business, a tanning salon elsewhere in Plymouth.

Now, six months after being jailed for three and a half years, Crabb is in trouble again according to a report on news website Plymouth Live.

“Crabb has now been caught out lying to her own lawyers after speaking to new solicitors keen to represent her. She returned to the court to apply to a judge to switch her legal aid to [a] new company” says the website.

The article explains how Crabb criticised her previous legal representatives and made accusations about their performance; these claims were made to another legal firm which had allegedly been attempting to poach Crabb as a client.

“Crabb said from the dock that a new firm of solicitors had encouraged her to change representation. She added that she had spoken to a senior solicitor at her old firm to apologise” the website story says.

Crabb faces what the site calls “complex hearings” in the near future regarding the Proceeds of Crime legislation which attempts to retrieve funds from convicted criminals.

You can see the full story here.