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Short filmTranscript
00:00Hello there, please.
00:02Hello, I just wanted to speak to somebody regarding fraud, please.
00:06In two or three days, there was 165 incidents reported to the police.
00:11Paid £1,700.
00:13£4,000.
00:14£5,520.
00:16There were 1,416 victims.
00:20Do you want to speak to somebody about this, Lynne Barlow?
00:23What Lynne done is sick.
00:26She was sharing her stories online.
00:31Enjoying a lifestyle which she couldn't afford.
00:34There was a free bar, there was red carpet as you walked in.
00:38The real Lynne Barlow was so different.
00:42It's a huge endeavour to steal money on an industrial scale.
00:46Half a million pounds, it's not enough.
00:50How much do you think you've spent it up?
00:52I think all of it.
00:54Social media was her opportunity to get more victims.
00:59She has destroyed lives, completely destroyed lives.
01:03She was trapped in this web of lies,
01:06and it was difficult for her to find a way out.
01:09More money using more lies, basically.
01:12If she hadn't been stopped, it would have just carried on.
01:15She was definitely a social media monster.
01:18She was a 39-year-old successful businesswoman.
01:30She was from County Durham, and she was living the life.
01:46She was going on exotic holidays.
01:49She was very generous to her friends, her family.
01:52And she was almost like a role model for other people to say,
01:55you can actually make it.
01:57You work hard.
01:58You can also share this sort of a lifestyle.
02:01And that's what she sold.
02:04She sold that dream.
02:06In 2019, Lynne Barlow is living in the suburbs to the north of Durham.
02:13She has a husband, two young kids, and is a much-loved member of the local community.
02:19When I first met Lynne, I did think she was very quiet.
02:24Quite a shy person.
02:26But she still had, like, a laugh, and she just joined in with our circle.
02:31When we went to Lynne's house, it was, like, snacks from Marks and Spencer's.
02:35We were asked why we brought our own drink when there was drink at her house.
02:40She was just a really nice, kind person.
02:46Lynne projected this lifestyle of a...
02:48..glamorous lady, designer, gear, lovely house, held extravagant parties.
03:00They were all very different, but all very expensive, I could imagine.
03:07One of them, there was a free bar.
03:09We had the black and white dance floor.
03:11There was a bit of a marquee built on the back of a house.
03:14There was red carpet as you walked in.
03:16Another one was three-course meal, drinks all night.
03:20Probably over 40, 50 people that she paid for.
03:25I thought she was just quite wealthy and just wanted to treat her friends.
03:29Towards the end of 2019, Lynne Barlow is telling friends that she's setting up her own business, an online travel agency.
03:39Her first clients were people she knew, but word soon spread that she was the go-to woman to book the holiday of a lifetime.
03:46The travel agency thing, early doors, it was going remarkable.
03:52She was getting loads of interest through Facebook, where she would put on holidays and people would just comment.
03:59And seeing how much is it for a family of four, how much is it for two, can you do as a price for Dubai, like whatever destination they fancied.
04:11The reviews at the beginning were absolutely amazing.
04:14She was beating everybody around in prices.
04:17When we think about travel agencies, a lot of work is generated through word of mouth.
04:23And social media is a fantastic platform for spreading the word.
04:27People came back and said, we've just been to Dubai for an all-inclusive and it cost us £500.
04:32They came back with glowing reports and glowing reviews.
04:36She was offering people holidays based on ridiculously low prices.
04:43But I always think if it's too good to be true, it's not true.
04:48And I'm afraid some people fell for that.
04:50My friend come to my house and said, look, Claire, we've booked a holiday for Tenerife, New Year.
05:05Lots and lots of families have booked on.
05:07Great deal.
05:09£400 per person.
05:11And my partner Alex was like, no, £400 for New Year, Tenerife, give her what.
05:16When I looked on Lynne's Facebook page, the comments, the feedback, everything looked really good.
05:26A lot of people that we knew was going as well.
05:29Apparently Lynne had booked out the whole of the hotel.
05:32And the more people she got, the better deal she got.
05:37So it was a no-brainer just to book it.
05:40We couldn't miss out if everyone else was going.
05:42So I phones Lynne, asks all the questions, are you at all protected?
05:49She gives me all the spiel, she's at all protected, she's sent me all the information.
05:55So I had all of the documents before I actually paid for the holiday.
06:00We had to pay it all in one go, straight away.
06:03We thought, yeah, put all your trust in her.
06:05She knows how to organise a good holiday.
06:07Happy to have bagged such a bargain for later in the year, Claire asked Barlow to book another holiday for her and a friend's family for the summer.
06:20A luxury boating trip for four adults, five kids and two dogs on the Norfolk Broads at the cost of £3,000.
06:27So we paid for the barge holiday, you know, thinking something different rather than going on an aeroplane, going abroad.
06:36Something exciting for the children and especially the exciting time for my son's birthday, first birthday.
06:43I had every bit of faith in Lynne. She was lovely, friendly, she had planned everything, give us itineraries. In my eyes this holiday was going ahead.
06:54Both families made the 250 mile journey down from Newcastle to Norfolk, looking forward to an action packed week on the water.
07:07Got there, pulled up, seen the barge, everyone was very excited because we had the name of the actual barge, we had the pictures.
07:15Stood outside of it, got lots and lots of photos with the children.
07:22Went in to check in, the lady said, holiday doesn't exist.
07:32It's not booked in their own name.
07:36We tried my name, we tried my friend's name, we tried Lynne Barlow.
07:40Wasn't booked in our names.
07:42Phoned Lynne.
07:47She said, it's definitely booked, leave it with us, give us 20 minutes.
07:51And I had faith in her.
07:55Lynne Barlow then phoned up and said, got some bad news, it's double booked.
08:03Then we were like, well, what do we do?
08:07Family of nine, stuck in an area that we don't know,
08:10with nowhere to stay.
08:13Children crying.
08:15Everybody was so upset.
08:17Just was awful, awful time.
08:19Then she phoned us back about an hour, an hour and a half later and said,
08:32I've booked you into a house for one night, I'll sort you on the barge tomorrow.
08:45But the second boat didn't get booked either.
08:48Instead, Barlow booked the two families some last minute accommodation.
08:51Three hours away, in Leeds.
08:55It wasn't family friendly at all.
08:58No on-street parking.
09:00Parking was miles away.
09:02It was just not suitable.
09:10Phoned Lynne crying, saying you need to get us sorted.
09:12Please find something for a week.
09:14The next day, Barlow did find them somewhere more suitable.
09:18In South Causey.
09:22Ten miles from their home.
09:25It was my son's first birthday, she sent a first birthday balloon.
09:32She was messaging saying, I've booked you a meal, you know, all paid for.
09:38She was sending us gifts for us to be on her side and think that wasn't her fault,
09:44but she was trying to correct things.
09:46But it wasn't what we had planned for our summer holiday.
09:52It was nothing like the Norfolk Broads.
09:55We've paid all this money.
09:57We've took time off work.
09:59Our family holiday, nine people, was ruined.
10:06Clare is expecting to be refunded for the cost of the barge holiday that never happened.
10:10And seeing as they were staying so close to where Barlow lived, paid her a visit.
10:16I decided to go to our front door.
10:18She was only around the corner.
10:20And I said, Lynne, please tell us the truth.
10:21Was this barge holiday booked?
10:24She was just saying yes.
10:25There was a mix-up.
10:26It was double booked.
10:28She was going to reimburse us on everything as an apology.
10:32She was quite sincere.
10:34What Clare doesn't yet know is that she's not the first person to be strung along by Lynne Barlow's excuses.
10:48I had started to hear rumours about people were rocking up to places and they weren't booked.
10:55Yet they paid for these holidays and there was nothing booked under their name.
11:00Some people did get away and they came back with glowing reviews.
11:05Other people went on holiday and then found that only part of their holiday had been booked.
11:10Or they got to the airport or the place they were supposed to be and found nothing had been booked.
11:15She advertises holidays that seem too good to be true.
11:22When in reality, she was totally selling wise.
11:26This was a monumental scale of criminality.
11:30450 acts of fraud across 1,400 victims.
11:33When you actually look at the figures and how much money Lynne Barlow took,
11:37there was £2.6 million being defrauded.
11:40In Durham, well-known local travel agent Lynne Barlow has been making a name for herself,
11:59offering luxury holidays at low prices on her Facebook page.
12:02She's only been in business a few months, but already has hundreds of clients.
12:10At the beginning I heard a lot of good reports where the holidays that people were getting were fantastic.
12:15I spoke to my friend and she said she was getting a brilliant deal for a family of four.
12:19I said, I can't believe that because I can't get it anywhere near that for my family.
12:23On social media, people were putting comments on saying booked a holiday through Lynne and she's got what a great deal.
12:32Someone went to Dubai, I think they paid £500 for two weeks.
12:36I've seen the photo, she lives next to us.
12:40Barlow's customers aren't questioning how she was able to offer such good prices.
12:45They're just happy to be looking forward to their cut-price holiday.
12:48Lynne Barlow was able to organise holidays at ridiculously cheap prices and people were paying deposits.
12:58Sometimes people would pay the entire sun.
13:00She would use some of the money to offer discounts on holidays, which would then lure more people in to book through her particular agency.
13:09For example, it would cost £500 to go to the destination of a lifetime, when in reality it was more than that.
13:19But she put the money towards that, so that family and other people would say, what a bargain.
13:27So obviously she had good reviews at the beginning.
13:30As long as Barlow keeps enticing new customers to pay up front months in advance, she can continue her elaborate con.
13:41Siphoning off what she needs to maintain the facade of her luxury lifestyle.
13:45It was almost like a Ponzi type scheme, where as new money came in, she'd book the original holidays and it was continuing in that way.
13:55The money that she was taking from people who she was defrauding was subsidising the fraud as it went further and further.
14:01She always needed to have more victims of this scheme to work for her.
14:06It was never going to have a happy ending.
14:09Barlow had created a bottleneck.
14:12She sold some holidays in advance, but now her clients were actually arriving at airports and hotels.
14:19She wasn't getting enough cash from new bookings to fulfil the existing ones.
14:22In some cases, people were sent on holidays where the hotel rooms weren't booked correctly.
14:32So they were only booked in for three nights when it should be a fortnight and they were thrown out.
14:37And this is how it escalated.
14:39Eventually she was getting money from people with no intentions whatsoever of delivering and going on holiday.
14:46People started to ask for their money back. The house of cards completely started to collapse.
14:53Despite the growing rumours, Barlow is still operating.
14:57Because she's trusted by the very community that she's scamming.
15:02She pulled the wool over lots of people's eyes.
15:05People don't want to believe the worst about individuals.
15:08So they were prepared to accept the stories that Lynn was coming up with as to why holidays didn't happen.
15:15A lot of people are conned by people they know.
15:18And when this happens, people are thinking, how did I not see it?
15:23But the reason why people didn't see it is because they would never expect it from someone who they trusted.
15:29When we got home from this disaster of a holiday to the Norfolk Broads, you know, I had faith in Lynn Barlow,
15:36reimbursed enough some money. That's the way she made us feel.
15:40But the barge trip was the second holiday Claire had booked with Barlow.
15:47She's already paid up front for her bargain New Year trip to the Canary Islands.
15:53With the Tenerife holiday, it wasn't just us nine.
15:57There was several other families booked onto the same holiday.
16:01And the way she was selling it was a great deal.
16:05All your drinks were included, all your food was included, it was a brand new hotel.
16:08She kept telling people if we can get more people on, you know, these will get better price, et cetera, et cetera.
16:17So, friends, families, you know, everyone from the area was booked on it.
16:23But after the Norfolk Broads holiday disaster, I just wanted answers.
16:32Is that holiday definitely booked?
16:35She actually showed me confirmation on our laptop, which looked like an original Jet 2 booking,
16:44what you would get on your phone.
16:45There were people who said, can we have your registration documents with the various organisations,
16:55like the ABTA, for the travel agency.
17:01She produced false certificates.
17:08How many people would actually go to the ABTA register to check that that person is actually on there?
17:16So, it wasn't that people didn't make those checks.
17:20They did.
17:21But she provided false documentation so that she could continue with her false business.
17:29The Tenerife holiday scam could be affecting up to 30 families, many of whom know each other.
17:36Lynn Barlow's fraudulent travel business has now reached a tipping point.
17:41It became obvious to local people that Lynn was actually taking their money and not delivering the goods,
17:47not booking the holidays.
17:48So, people did start to challenge Lynn to say, what is going on?
17:53People started to share reviews.
17:56People started to put information onto the internet.
17:59I was friends with Lynn on Facebook and there was a lot of people confronting her on her Facebook,
18:08but every time something was wrote on her wall, she kept deleting it.
18:12She was trying to delete them, but there were so many people who she scammed and were going online
18:19that that was a full-time job to go online and try and delete absolutely everything.
18:25So, it was, let's say, it was coming on top for her.
18:29Once something's out there on social media, you have very little control over it
18:33and it is almost impossible, even if you delete it, to pull it back, especially if people have seen it, shared it,
18:41or if maybe someone screenshotted it.
18:44That lack of control can spiral.
18:47For Lynn, in her position, she can see now that social media that worked in her favour at the beginning
18:56is now going the opposite way.
18:59What built up over a period of time is that people were making complaints after complaints
19:05that they weren't getting their holidays.
19:07What became a trickle became a flood and, at that stage, it was impossible to ignore.
19:11The excuses began to run out and the complaints started to build up.
19:18And then, of course, it all stopped because there was no more money coming in.
19:24By September 2020, with the online campaign against Barlow spreading across social media,
19:31her disgruntled clients are now calling in the law.
19:35The people who came latest, none of them were getting their holidays
19:38and, therefore, they were making reports.
19:41And that's why we see floodgates opening.
19:45Hello, sir, please.
19:47Hello, Em, I just wanted to speak to somebody regarding the phone, please.
19:52I just wanted to speak to somebody about this, like, Lynn Barlow.
19:57In two or three days, there was 165 incidents reported to the police about Lynn.
20:03They said that they hadn't received anything in my ear.
20:06It was one of the biggest fraud crimes that Durham Constabulary has seen.
20:13That's how many people that she affected.
20:17Looking at the first thing, there's, like, lots of people affected by it.
20:24Imagine telling your children, oh, we've paid many thousands of pounds,
20:28but we're not going to get a holiday.
20:31We'll actually drive it down to Centre Park, so we've got two of them all over
20:36about because it's not even good.
20:38One of the victims had been planning a holiday to take their child,
20:43who had undergone some surgery.
20:45So it was an important break for emotional reasons.
20:47Obviously, when the holiday was cancelled at short notice.
20:49Where are you meant to be going?
20:52No, 4th of November this year.
20:54How am I supposed to be here today?
20:57Families can spend a long time saving up for something like this.
21:01And in a moment, Lynn not only dashed their hope for a holiday,
21:05but also put them in a very difficult financial position.
21:08What's the total value of the holiday?
21:09£600.
21:12£1,700.
21:13£4,000.
21:15£5,520,000.
21:19To understand the scale of the fraud, Durham Police are starting to comb
21:23through thousands of pages of evidence to see where it all started.
21:28It was important to find who had communicated with Lynn,
21:32the deals that had been struck and the money that had been transferred.
21:35Where did it go?
21:37Who withdrew it and what was it used for?
21:39And that's when they discovered that the real Lynn Barlow
21:43was so different from the persona that she projected.
21:49She was not a successful businesswoman.
21:52She was not a role model.
21:54She wasn't generous.
21:56She was throwing lavish parties with other people's money.
21:59What she was doing in actual fact was manipulating
22:02absolutely everybody around her,
22:06stealing their money to fund her lavish lifestyle.
22:10Lynn's fraud had begun four years before the holiday business
22:15when she started to systematically take money from her first victim.
22:19Not only was she stealing and lying and committing the most horrendous fraud,
22:24she was putting additional debt on the person
22:27who she should have cared about the most.
22:29So Lynn's first victim was her own mother.
22:32So Lynn's first victim was her own mother.
22:34In Durham, 39-year-old bogus online travel agent, Lynn Barlow,
22:35is being investigated for scamming more than 1,400 holidaymakers.
22:37In Durham, 39-year-old bogus online travel agent, Lynn Barlow,
22:38is being investigated for scamming more than 1,400 holidaymakers.
22:40In Durham, 39-year-old bogus online travel agent, Lynn Barlow,
22:42is being investigated for scamming more than 1,400 holidaymakers.
22:43But five years earlier, she'd started stealing from her own mother.
22:46In Durham, 39-year-old bogus online travel agent, Lynn Barlow,
22:49is being investigated for scamming more than 1,400 holidaymakers.
22:52But five years earlier, she'd started stealing from her own mother.
22:57It really started around the time of her father's death.
23:00And her mother received quite a significant sum of money as a result.
23:03At this moment, Lynn took advantage of the opportunity
23:05to take control of that money.
23:06Lynn Barlow then put herself forward to saying,
23:08you know, what's going on?
23:09What's going on?
23:10What's going on?
23:11What's going on?
23:12What's going on?
23:13What's going on?
23:14What's going on?
23:15What's going on?
23:16Lynn Barlow then put herself forward to saying, I can help you.
23:28I can manage the finances.
23:29I'm successful.
23:30I've got a business.
23:31I can invest some of that money for you.
23:33Her rationale at that time was that her mum was overcome with grief
23:37and wasn't able to function financially.
23:40So she convinced her mum to let her have access to her bank accounts.
23:47I've seen lots and lots of crimes.
23:49The things that really stick with me are ones where people have really betrayed trust.
23:54Imagine your daughter stealing money from a vulnerable older person.
24:00And not a small sum, but half a million pound.
24:10Some of that money was a life insurance settlement for her mum
24:14when Barlow's dad died of cancer.
24:17But now it's being used to fund Barlow's extravagant lifestyle.
24:22So Lynn Barlow was taking money from her mother's account
24:25and using that to finance holidays abroad with her mother.
24:28So she would appear on the one hand generous and loving,
24:32but of course on the other, her mother did not know at the time
24:35when she was going on these holidays that in fact they were being financed
24:38for money that was being taken from her by her daughter.
24:41She started intercepting the post so that her mum wouldn't actually see what she was doing.
24:47She started producing false statements from the banks.
24:51She would tell her that she'd invested her money
24:55and that her mother had become a millionaire on the back of that investment.
24:59And all the time, of course, her money was being systematically stripped away.
25:05Lynn Barlow basically took out loans in her mother's name
25:07and her mother was then getting knocks on the doors from bailiffs demanding money.
25:12You can imagine how horrendous that is for an elderly woman threatened with having property taken away.
25:18And she had no idea where these debts came from.
25:21She had a great car, she had a lovely house, she wore designer gear.
25:39She obviously liked to betray somebody who had everything but half a million pounds.
25:47It's not enough, so she then continues on with her offending.
25:52Lynn Barlow has got used to a lifestyle she can't afford.
25:56Two years before she comes up with the idea of a bogus travel agency,
26:00she's trying to find other ways to keep that lifestyle going
26:04and other people who can help pay for it.
26:08What she would start to do is target friends of hers
26:12who she would ask for effectively for loans.
26:24She would offer all manner of explanations for how they would get that money back,
26:28that she was successful in business or she had invested the money
26:32and was just waiting for it to pay out.
26:35Lynn, as far as they're aware, is a good friend.
26:39They have no reason to suspect that she was doing anything wrong.
26:44You know, £24,000 she borrowed off one friend.
26:48They believed her because she provided documentation,
26:51she looked them in the eye and she told these lies.
26:55She was trapped in this web of lies and it was difficult for her to find a way out.
27:05Five years after she started stealing from her mother
27:08and three years after she started taking money off friends,
27:12it's now 2020 and Lynn Barlow's travel agency has been exposed.
27:18She has friends, family and customers all demanding explanations
27:22about where their money has gone.
27:29When the holidays went downhill, we didn't see a great deal of her
27:33because she wasn't very well.
27:36Every time we spoke to her, whether it was email or phone,
27:42she always mentioned her ill health.
27:44When I bumped into Lynn at the supermarket, she had a headscarf on.
27:48She looked quite thin.
27:51She said she had cancer.
27:53I felt a lot of pity for her because I just thought she's my friend,
28:08she's got cancer and people are giving a hassle to get money off her.
28:13Like, I was just thinking she would sort everybody out
28:16once she was feeling a little bit better.
28:25The married mother of two has told family, friends and clients
28:28that she's suffering from cancer,
28:30but the police can't ignore the volume of complaints that are being made.
28:36Hello, it's Anthony.
28:37Oh, hello.
28:38I've been trying to ring this number in regards to,
28:41without the punishment, one callers out of money for a holiday.
28:47Durham police are dealing with a potential multi-million pound
28:50money laundering operation, with more than 1,400 victims.
28:56I've booked a holiday back in.
28:58I'd be worried about an online travel agent
29:00and I had one get killed this morning and nothing came booked.
29:04When the police initially went, they thought it was a fairly low-scale fraud
29:12involving around £12,000 of commission, which she shouldn't have had.
29:17Of course, it became clear that this was a very much more significant fraud
29:20committed against a range of different people.
29:24The police are not accountants.
29:26You have specialist professionals, forensic accountants,
29:28who can look at every single detail and then make a decision
29:31around whether fraud has been committed.
29:35They realise very, very quickly that this is pretty black and white.
29:41What we have are two long-running frauds,
29:43the earliest being that against her mother,
29:45which began in 2014 and extended over a period of years.
29:49And then around three years after that fraud started,
29:52Lynn Barlow started committing a fraud through the travel business.
29:56If police hadn't started investigating the holiday fraud,
30:01they may never have discovered the extent to which
30:04Barlow had been stealing from her mother.
30:07She was systematically removing the money,
30:11but the money began to run dry because her mother had finite assets.
30:16So Lynn Barlow, of course, needed to commit additional fraud,
30:19producing false documents relating to an investment,
30:23which was supposedly making millions of pounds for her mother.
30:27And her mother, for obvious reasons,
30:29wanted to believe the best in her daughter.
30:32And when people began to question that investment,
30:35she produced further documents which suggested that the money had been frozen
30:40as part of a fraud investigation.
30:42Of course, there was no money in the first place
30:44and there was no investigation.
30:46False bank statements to make it look like she had money when she did not.
30:50Making up false meetings with the bank, which were never arranged,
30:54just to give the appearance that things were moving forward
30:57and there was nothing wrong.
30:59Six months before the deluge of phone calls to the police,
31:11they did get a tip off that something was not right with Barlow's travel agency
31:16and had even been to her house to question her.
31:19They needed to bring her in so that she could be interviewed under caution.
31:24They were met by her at her front door.
31:27She had a walking stick, she had her hair covered up in a scarf
31:30and she looked frail and was wobbling around as she walked.
31:34It was in Covid times, so Lynne saying that she had cancer,
31:42obviously she's vulnerable.
31:44You wouldn't want to bring Lynne into a police station if she had cancer.
31:49Covid was a very, very difficult time.
31:52Lots of people were unwell,
31:53but she was throwing everything at the police to avoid being held to account.
31:58Police officers had to then make a decision about,
32:04was it safe to take her into custody if she had cancer
32:09because her immune system would have been suffering.
32:12So they didn't arrest her.
32:16They did not want to risk her health by completing the arrest.
32:21Police require good cause to access medical records,
32:25but at that point chose to accept Barlow's word on her condition.
32:32The impact of doing an interview
32:34which isn't reasonable and proportionate
32:36and within the law and the guidelines
32:38means that all the evidence can be thrown out of court.
32:41So they're conscious of that.
32:45Of course what happened during those several months
32:47is that the picture of the frauds continued to build.
32:51It's alerted Lynne that the police are aware of her activities.
32:58That didn't seem to bother Lynne.
32:59She continued offending.
33:02There were elements of sophistication in this offending
33:06and it required a constant assessment
33:10because Lynne Barlow was moving money around to continue the fraud.
33:15The balance that the police had to exercise between
33:19obviously respecting the health of Lynne Barlow
33:21but also making an arrest and stopping her offending,
33:24the scales shifted and that's why in September 2020
33:28they did make the arrest.
33:29I didn't have any inkling that things were changing with Lynne
33:43until I heard rumours that she'd been arrested
33:48and I didn't believe it.
33:50They had to take her in, she had to be arrested
33:54and she had to be interviewed under caution, on tape
33:58and all of these allegations put to her.
34:02You see her frail, shaking with her walking stick.
34:06You see her with her headscarf which is covering her hair
34:09because she is saying that she's going through chemo
34:11and she's lost her hair.
34:13And even where she's being searched,
34:15she uses her walking stick and then swaps hands
34:17because, well, it appears that she needs to use it
34:20to stand up straight.
34:22It is only at the point where she's asked to remove her headscarf
34:26that it becomes obvious that she has a full head of hair.
34:30She's a born con woman, she just can't stop.
34:32You know, she's conned all these different people,
34:34she's now trying to con the police.
34:36Lynne Barlow has been brought in for questioning
34:57about multiple claims of fraudulent behaviour.
35:00But before the police can ask about those,
35:03they've discovered that a cancer diagnosis
35:05is a sham.
35:07This was the final desperate ruse
35:09to prevent the whole house of cards from collapsing.
35:13She was a shameless con artist.
35:15Unfortunately for her, it all became apparent
35:18as soon as she took that scarf off
35:20that she had to come clean and say
35:22she's lied about having cancer.
35:31Somebody who can look friends and family in the eye
35:34in order to hide their crimes, claim that they're terminally ill,
35:38is somebody who's got no scruples,
35:40somebody who has got no morals,
35:43somebody who would do absolutely anything and everything,
35:46not only to commit the crime, but to try and evade justice.
35:50When I seen that she was even telling the police that she had cancer,
35:54my heart sunk.
35:56I've got family, friends, you know, who've suffered cancer.
36:00It's not an illness that you want to lie about.
36:04Something wrong with that, definitely.
36:08Knowing how many people in the world are touched with the sadness of cancer,
36:13it took her quite a long time just to process what I was actually hearing.
36:18My niece was very poorly at the time.
36:22Our family as a whole went through heartbreak.
36:25And she had the whole world believing that she had cancer.
36:30Going out for meals, she was in a wheelchair.
36:34Just all the lies.
36:39I was really angry with her.
36:41Really angry with her.
36:43The fake cancer diagnosis may have successfully postponed this moment.
36:53But Barlow now has to face the long list of questions the police have.
36:59I believe that when Lynn went into that first interview,
37:04she believed that she could just admit it and it was all going to go away.
37:09This interview was being recorded and it may be given in evidence
37:12if your case is brought to trial.
37:14I don't think she quite realised the gravity of her offences
37:18and maybe she thought that she would be let off with a caution.
37:22Do you wish to speak to a legal advisor now or have one present during the interview?
37:26No.
37:27No.
37:28Is there any reasons why you don't want one present?
37:30I'm just going to ask the questions honestly that you're going to ask.
37:35Lynn Barlow, when she's in the police station,
37:38states that she doesn't want a solicitor representing her whilst in an interview,
37:43saying because she's going to tell the truth.
37:47Everyone who is accused of a crime in this country
37:49is given the fair opportunity to give their side of what took place.
37:54It's important to know they don't have to.
37:56They're perfectly within their rights to sit there in silence.
37:59In this case, Lynn Barlow chose to speak.
38:03I didn't set out to hurt anybody or intend to hurt anybody, but I have to hurt.
38:09Often legal representation is associated with getting guilty people off.
38:14And I think in her mind, she didn't need legal representation because she was going to tell the truth.
38:20She had no reason to lie.
38:22Have you accessed any of your mother's bank accounts without authority and transferred money out into your own accounts?
38:28Yeah.
38:29How much do you think you've spent in that?
38:31I don't think they've been all of it.
38:32When Lynn Barlow is actually interviewed on tape under caution,
38:39she does then start admitting what she did, how she did it,
38:44and starts disclosing and sharing all of that information.
38:48The only way you could end up paying any of those people back was by getting more money, using more lies, basically.
39:10Barlow has got through most of the questioning without displaying much emotion.
39:15But the police haven't yet brought up the question of why she lied about having cancer.
39:22Can I ask, did you ever use that, sort of like, as an excuse for things, sort of like, to do with the money and pain, sort of back and whatever?
39:32I used it for the business. When people were threatening us and stuff, I would use it for, like...
39:42Police don't hurt us, I'm not very well, like anything.
39:47She answered all questions that the police had of her, and she made a very significant admission.
39:53There was really nowhere else for Lynn Barlow to go because the evidence was, by that stage, fairly overwhelming.
40:03While Barlow was being interviewed by police, someone was making it clear how they felt.
40:12The back of her home was firebombed.
40:15I'd seen on social media that, you know, there was damaging fire put onto her house.
40:21I just prayed that the...
40:23..knew the children were safe at that time.
40:27Because there was a lot of angry people about.
40:29Building the case against Lynn Barlow's complex veil of deception took nearly two years.
40:39On October the 10th, at Durham Crown Court, she pleads guilty to the theft of her mother's money,
40:46ten counts of fraud, and one of money laundering.
40:49There were 1,416 victims, that is, people who did not get the holiday that they anticipated for whatever reason.
40:59Of course, in addition to that, there were the frauds committed against her mother,
41:04and the frauds committed against the family and acquaintances.
41:06The level of criminality that Lynn perpetrated was quite spectacular.
41:13It was the £500,000 stolen from her mother, and then the travel agency that stole £1.2 million.
41:20It's a huge endeavour by Lynn to steal money on an industrial scale.
41:26If she hadn't been stopped, it would have just carried on.
41:28In total, police believe the amount of money Lynn Barlow stole or laundered came to £2.6 million.
41:38But when she appeared for sentencing, she was hoping for leniency.
41:42Her mitigation centred on the fact that she had come clean, that she'd later admitted her role in an interview, made admissions.
41:52She then backed that up by pleading guilty to the charges in court, and that effectively she'd lost everything.
42:01On February 3rd, 2023, the judge made her ruling.
42:05She said that Barlow had an extraordinary talent for dishonesty, and that she was a thoroughly callous individual.
42:15Lynn Barlow was sentenced to nine years in prison, which I think is a fair sentence.
42:22It's quite a hefty sentence, really, for a first offence.
42:27However, if you look at how many people she defrauded,
42:30not just the fact that she's obviously scanned a lot of people out of a lot of money,
42:36erm, but with the ruse of having cancer, that's another level.
42:43I think she got what she deserved.
42:47Not long enough.
42:49I don't feel that it's justification for the money that she took from people.
42:55The heartbreak, the sadness, the lies, the deceit, I don't think it's long enough.
43:01What Lynn done is sick.
43:05I couldn't believe when I found out what she had done to family members, friends.
43:10How can you do it to anybody?
43:12You're robbing off people.
43:14You know you deserve what you're going to get.
43:17How many people could look their own mother in the eye and steal her money and lie to her in the way that she did.
43:27She has destroyed lives, completely destroyed lives.
43:30The investigation identified £1.2 million worth of fraudulent holiday bookings.
43:40Some, like Claire, got refunded some of their money through their bank.
43:45But others, like Barlow's mum, are still yet to receive a penny.
43:50I think Lynn's motivations were complex.
44:05There was something about enjoying a lifestyle which she couldn't afford, which was very seductive and addictive.
44:25There was something about the admiration and the attention she got from others.
44:29She had that life. She had the parties, she had the drinking, she had the cars.
44:36She used those dreams that she had and created nightmares for other people.
44:42I don't think there was anything that I could say to her without being angry, if I'm completely honest.
44:49I think she'd be very stupid to come back to this area because there's still a lot of angry people out there.
44:55It's still, it's still raw.
45:00People's memories, people's pensions, people's money.
45:04Some people never got it back. I was one of the lucky ones.
45:08This is someone who really sees people as instruments for their own gain
45:14and will work towards meeting their own needs, regardless of the expense or the impact on anyone else.
45:19Social media was her opportunity to get more victims.
45:26She was sharing her stories about how successful she was, all these great holidays she was having.
45:32She was desperate to portray herself as a hugely successful individual.
45:36And she did that entirely, 100% on criminality, because she was so arrogant she thought she would get away with it.
45:42She was a social media monster. Definitely. Don't always believe what you see on social media. Dig deep. Look into things.
45:53Look into things.
45:54Look into things.
45:57Transcription by CastingWords
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