Fraudster agent must repay £123,000 or face more jail time

A fraudster lettings agent must repay £122,922.68 to her old firm within three months - or face yet more time in jail.

Wendy Dare, 57, pleaded guilty to three counts of Fraud by Abuse of Position back in March and was sentenced to 28 months imprisonment.

During that hearing, it was found she had moved approximately £138,000 worth of company funds to bank accounts managed by her.

Dare was a lettings manager between May 2015 and December 2020, but it was not until June 2021 that her firm was informed a payment of around £23,000 designated to a landlord client could not be accounted for.

An investigation found that Dare had been repeatedly accessing company accounts and transferring funds to accounts set up in the names of herself, her husband and daughter.

A further investigation into the financial records of Dare was launched by Chester CID and revealed:

- four accounts in the name of Wendy Dare and five in the name of her husband had been set up and a significant amount of cash distributed between these accounts;

- 37 transactions that exceeded £47,000 had been paid into accounts belonging to fake landlords - accounts that had been set up by Dare;

- the loss as a result of the fraudulent transactions totalled £138,741.10.  However, between February 2016 and November 2020 Dare repaid £32,681.85 leaving approximately £106,059.25 outstanding.

As a result of the investigation into her finances, Dare was charged with three counts of Fraud by Abuse of Position.

But she returned to court this month and on was ordered to repay £122,922.68 to her former employer.

She has three months to pay will face a further custodial sentence, while still being liable to pay the sun.

Accredited Financial Investigator Jane Carruthers, of the Economic Crime Unit of Cheshire Constabulary, says: “Wendy Dare's confiscation order sends a strong message that Cheshire Police takes the recovery of the proceeds of crime and loss to victims very seriously.  

“It highlights the importance of asset recovery considerations running throughout an investigation, to maximise the opportunities to recover significant sums derived from criminality in an effort to compensate victims of crime.”