Telford tenant from hell locked up after faking documents and not paying rent

Tracey Dyas, 60, and her husband, Andrew Dyas, who is also 60, were both dealt with at Shrewsbury Crown Court after admitting a number of offences.

Mrs Dyas, described as the architect of the schemes, pleaded guilty to four charges of fraud by false representation.

Her husband, described as a “man who has very much lived his life with his head in the sand”, admitted three charges of fraud by false representation.

Both defendants are from Old Hall, Liilleshall.

The court head Mrs Dyas has previous, with six convictions for 32 offences - all for fraud, including a jail sentence.

Philip Beardwell, prosecuting told that Mrs Dyas’ charges related to one instance of persuading a friend to guarantee a £7,000 loan, and three occasions where she had falsified documents for landlords - including another recently widowed friend, and had then failed to pay rent.

The victim of the loan fraud had been a woman who met Mrs Dyas in 2016.

The court was told the pair became so close they even went on holiday together.

Mr Beardwell said that in 2018 Mrs Dyas asked her friend to guarantee a loan for £7,000 - insisting she had the money, but the post office would not release if for 70 days.

The court was told Dyas’ failure to repay the loan left the victim on the hook for £8,049.

Mr Beardwell explained the deception involved Dyas fabricating letters purporting to be from the Post Office and Financial Ombudsman which were sent to her victim in an effort to get away with her offending.

The court heard the victim became suspicious due to spelling mistakes in the correspondence - specifically with words that Dyas herself would misspell in text messages.

In September 2019 Dyas falsified documents to secure tenancy of a property on Stafford Road in Newport - the papers from the Post Office and a building society, purporting to show that Dyas had money which she did not.

Both Dyas and her husband signed the tenancy. There followed repeated failures to pay rent on time, with payments described as sporadic.

They were served with an eviction notice with the landlord left £3,067 out of pocket.

The next fraud took place involving false documents to secure a tenancy on a property on Sovereign Lane in Market Drayton in March 2020.

Again Dyas’ husband co-signed the tenancy.

The court was told the landlord received repeated excuses for failure to pay rent.

Mr Beardwell was told that after becoming frustrated the landlord contacted the woman who was a witness on the signing of the tenancy - only to discover it was the friend initially defrauded by Dyas with the loan.

The woman told the landlord she had not witnessed the signing and she was a previous victim to Dyas’ actions.

The third instance came at Warwick Way in Leegomery, Telford, where again false documents were provided to secure the tenancy

On this occasion Mrs Dyas provided documents to show she had £9,038 for an up-front deposit, which allowed the landlord to release the keys.

Mr Beardwell said that no payments were then received for three months, eventually ending up around £15,000 in arrears.

He added: “They did not have the money they said they did when they signed the applications. They both knew this.”

A number of statements were read to the court from the victims.

The owner of the Newport property told how she had known Mrs Dyas for ten years - and at the time she had known her husband had recently died.

She said: “What has been so difficult for me to deal with was the fact I have been targeted after the loss of my partner.”

She told how she had been relieved to have friends as tenants but “was mortified when I realised I had been conned by these two friends”.

She added: “Tracey and Andrew Dyas are very, very plausible and accomplished at what they do after doubtless many years of practice and a total lack of empathy.”

Robert Edwards, mitigating on behalf of Mrs Dyas, urged the court to suspend any sentence.

He said there had been no offences since her arrest, and that she suffers from considerable physical health issues.

He read a letter from the defendant to the court stating: “I know what I did was extremely wrong and caused a lot of people stress. I would also like to apologise to the victims. I was wrong to do the things I did.”

He added: “I am just sorry for causing so much pain to people.”

Mr Edwards said that he accepted the request to avoid jail was effectively “a plea for mercy”.

Danny Smith, mitigating for Mr Dyas, said his role had been limited compared to his wife.

He said: “Mrs Dyas was the person at the coal-face of it and he was someone who was complicit in the offences he pleaded guilty to.”

He added: “In his own words in the pre-sentence report, ‘he turned a blind eye’.”

Mr Smith said Dyas was man “who has very much lived his life with his head in the sand”.

He continued: “He did not take control of the couple’s finances, he left that to his wife. He worked every day of his life and simply didn’t have a clue about the finances.”

Sentencing, Judge Trevor Meegan said: “These offences represent a sustained and deliberate course of dishonest conduct, carried out over a number of years.”

Judge Meegan described Mrs Dyas as “the architect” of the offending who had “exploited” the trust of others for financial gain.

He told Mr Dyas his role has been less, but he “benefitted from living in the properties while knowing financial representations you made were false.”

Referring back to Mrs Dyas he added: “You were the architect, you were the driving force behind this. The fraud was sophisticated, involved false documents, they were over a sustained period and involved abusing the trust of friends.”

Mrs Dyas was jailed for three years and two months.

Mr Dyas was sentenced to 12 months in prison, suspended for two years, with a requirement to complete 300 hours of unpaid work.

He will also serve a three month curfew from 6pm to 6am.