'Heartless' pair spared jail for roles in £580k money laundering plot

GRAN AND MUM HELPED IN SCAM TO CON ELDERLY VICTIMS OUT OF CASH

- By JOHN SCHEERHOUT

TWO 'heartless' money launderers who played a part in scamming timeshare holders out of £580,000 have been spared jail after a judge heard they were single mothers who had endured troubled lives.

Grandmother Katy Lowe, 51, and shoe shop worker Natalie Yarwood, 37, allowed their bank accounts to be used to clean money defrauded from a string of elderly timeshare holders who had been convinced they were entitled to compensation over their properties in Spain.

The victims were conned by a Stockport couple, Sean Thompson and Caroline Preston, who were jailed in 2021 for leading the scam which saw a string of elderly and vulnerable victims fleeced out of £580,000.

The couple used a series of accomplices to launder the money, among them Lowe and Yarwood, who were spared jail when they appeared at Manchester's Minshull Street Crown Court.

The defendants were part of a 'sophisticated fraud' headed by Thompson and Preston, prosecutor Adam White told the court.

The victims were owners of timeshares in Spain who were 'convinced' Thompson was either a lawyer or an advisor who persuaded them that they were entitled to compensation via ongoing legal proceedings in Spain, said Mr White.

They handed over large sums of money the scammers said were for professional fees or required by the courts in Spain.