Women jailed over 'devastating' £156,000 life savings fraud

Mark Southern invested £156,000 through the Kirkby Lonsdale office of international company Sanlam. But over several weeks in the summer of 2013, his email account was hacked and personal data was used to steal all of his money.

At Carlisle Crown Court, three people each received 16-month prison sentences for conspiracy to transfer or remove criminal property. They were Ayesha Foster and Esther Brook, both aged 22 from Wolverhampton, and Elvis Nwankwo, 30.

Mr Southern said the theft had a 'devastating' impact on both him and his family. Referring to the email scam, he said: "It is frightening what people are able to do nowadays."

The court heard the fraud began after Foster, of Crowther Street, Park Village, opened a bank account in May 2013, at the apparent direction of an unknown man known only as 'Crim'.

Weeks later, when Mr Southern's money was invested with Sanlam, his email account was hacked.

"Instructions were being issued, without his knowledge but apparently by him, to Sanlam to move large amounts of money into different accounts," said Brendan Burke, prosecuting.

The first account into which it was transferred was Foster's. The withdrawals grew larger as she seemed to become more confident of avoiding detection.

From there, Mr Southern's money went into other accounts, some in the names of Brook, of Dunstall Lane, Dunstall, and Nwankwo, from Hatfield, as the laundering process picked up speed.

It transpired that Foster, Brook and Nwankwo were acting on the direction of others, further up the criminal ladder, who have not been traced

The two women were arrested and admitted the fraud. Nwankwo denied the matter but was convicted by a jury after a trial.

Andrew Marrs, defending Foster, said she had been 'groomed' by more significant criminals who had offered an 'extravagant and glamorous' lifestyle before apparently luring her into the fraud. She admitted in a police interview to being greedy. Adrian Palmer, representing Brook, said she was 'fearful' of going to prison.

Anthony Moore, for Nwankwo, said it was out of character.

Sentencing the trio, Recorder Simon Medland QC said: "You three were important players in a sophisticated fraud."

"Unless people like you are willing to undertake the role of allowing bank accounts to be used for stolen money, this sort of fraud would never take place.

"It may have been that this was a relatively small role that you played. But it was a vital link in the chain out of which this conspiracy could never have achieved its end."