A letting agent franchisee holder has received a  32 month prison sentence after pleading guilty to stealing £375,000 from her clients.

 

The fraudster ran a franchised lettings office in Dorchester, and funded her lifestyle with the ill gotten gains apparently for a down payment on a BMW, holidays all over the world that included the Caribbean, Europe and North America, as well as buying a number of welsh ponies.

The proceedings took place at Dorchester Crown Court where it was heard that between January 2010 and November 2013, she made changes to financial audit records, bank statements and other documents to hide the theft.

Barrie George, the owner of the Lettings agent brand, says: “On behalf of everyone at Dorset Lettings including the staff, landlords, tenants and suppliers, it is gratifying to see that justice has been served.

 

“It has been a particularly stressful time for everybody and hopefully the conclusion of the legal case will help bring closure for all those directly affected.

“Fortunately, our company is an ethical ARLA-licensed agent and client money protection insurance is a condition of the licence. We were able to make claims on behalf of all the landlords involved and facilitated the claims for tenants to get their deposits back."

The accused pleaded guilty to the charge of fraud by abuse of position.