Fraud can wreak havoc on people's lives, betraying their trust and leaving them thousands of pounds out of pocket.
It's a crime that comes in many different forms, from benefit fraud to elaborate online con schemes and scams that tear friends and families apart. But one thing the fraudsters on this list have in common is that they all were all brought to justice before the courts after their deceit was uncovered.
Here we taken a look at some of the shocking fraud cases with ties linked to Merseyside so far this year and what the perpetrators spent their ill-gotten gains on.
READ MORE: Convicted rapist made toddler touch his genitals in Home Bargains
*All ages listed are correct at the time of sentencing.
Anna Bonner
Anna Bonner lied for years to con her best friend and bridesmaid out of more than £100,000.
She asked Susan Hughes for vast sums of money, which she said was supporting a sick friend's cancer treatment, but actually funded her own lifestyle. The 40-year-old even encouraged a crush Ms Hughes had on the man, who she only met a few times, getting her to write letters and send gifts that she believed were going to him, but were actually received by Bonner.
The man did not have cancer and a judge labelled mum-of-three Bonner "greedy, devious and manipulative" for stealing more than £117, 000 from her friend. Bonner, of Seaview Road, Liscard, admitted fraud by false representation.
She was jailed for two years and four months.
Gary Kelly and Craig Gorton
A pair of fraudsters pretended to be Netflix, Spotify and Apple to steal millions of people’s details and sell them on for profit.
Gary Kelly and Craig Gorton used phishing emails to target subscribers of popular websites between 2017 and 2019. They would impersonate the companies and then redirect people to enter their details on a bogus website, harvesting details like names, addresses and telephone numbers.
It's estimated that they earned more than £140,000 in cryptocurrency by then auctioning off these details on website called ‘Mirashop’. But their scam came crashing down when their homes were raided by the Dark Web Operations Team of the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit.
Police analysis of the computers used by the pair found details for more than 64,000 credit cards and 24,000 Apple IDs were recovered and safeguarded. Addressing Kelly, Recorder Bex said his previous convictions and heavier involvement in the scheme meant prison was the only option for him.
Kelly, of Caldy Road, Liverpool, was jailed for 40 months in February this year. Recorder Bex ruled Gorton, of Rochdale Old Road, Bury, had a realistic prospect of rehabilitation in the community and he avoided prison. He received a two year sentence, suspended for the same period of time.
Lee Hickinbottom and Tabatha Knott
Lego-loving fraudster Lee Hickinbottom spent thousands of pounds on toys, home refurbishments, and trips to Disneyland.
Hickinbottom worked with his former partner, Tabatha Knott, 34, to fraudulently submit £1.3m in VAT repayment claims to HMRC between 2014 and 2017. The 49-year-old submitted most of the claims through his Serenity Community Transport business and provided false invoices.
With the stolen cash the pair enjoyed dream holidays and visited Disneyland, the Louvre in Paris and the Empire State Building in New York. They also s pent hundreds of thousands of pounds buying and improving their Dudley home, which included splashing out more than £13,000 on a luxury hot tub that had to be installed with a crane.
The fraudster also bought £20,000 of shares in a confectionery company, spent £4,220 supporting Everton Football Club and treated himself to more than £1,500 worth of Lego. In a failed attempt to hide his criminality Hickinbottom moved cash between numerous personal bank accounts he had set up in his own name.
During a hearing at Birmingham Crown Court, in December 2020, Hickinbottom pleaded guilty to dishonestly claiming £28,000 of Job Seekers Allowance and Employment Support Allowance between July 2013 and October 2016.
The pair were found guilty of VAT fraud on March 25, following a trial at Birmingham Crown Court. Knott was also convicted of money laundering offences.
On Friday, May 20 at Birmingham Crown Court, Lee Hickinbottom was sentenced to eight years in prison and Tabatha Knott was sentenced to 18 months in prison, suspended for two years.
Hugh Black
Hugh Black stole more than £500k from a number of companies, which his wife spent on luxury holidays in Spain.
The 58-year-old, from Rainford, set up several businesses installing energy efficient home improvements, such as loft and cavity wall insulation, in order to submit fraudulent claims. One of these companies, McClean Energy, was used to submit most of the claims and was run by Black’s right-hand man Desmond Fazackerley, 59, from Failsworth, Manchester.
Liverpool Crown Court was told the men falsified and altered invoices received from legitimate companies to a total of £593,000. Helen Black was "fully aware" of the fraudulent activity and spent the stolen money on holidays to Spain and enjoyed a higher standard of living than she would otherwise have been able to afford.
On March 7, 2022, at Liverpool Crown Court, Hugh Black was sentenced to five years in jail and Helen Black was sentenced to 14 months in jail, suspended for two years. She was also ordered to repay £88,000 within three months or face a nine-month jail sentence.
Desmond Fazackerley was sentenced to three years in jail.
Clare Roughley
Clare Roughley stole hundreds of thousands from her family and left her dad saddled with a mortgage he didn’t ask for.
The 40-year-old subjected her parents, grandparents and even a woman she cared for to a vile campaign of theft over a number of years. The former bank employee was jailed back in October last year after admitting to using her insider knowledge to steal £325,000 from those who were supposed to trust her.
She set up online access to the accounts of her dad, Raymond Roughley, her mum, Delyn Roughley, and her nan, Theresa Leyland. Over a number of years, she drained their life savings to fund her escalating gambling addictions, as well as stealing thousands from a woman she was caring for.
On May 30 this year, Roughley returned back before a judge at Liverpool Crown Court to be sentenced for mortgage fraud carried out during the same period. The judge, Recorder Imran Shafi, QC, said Roughley had carried out an “extraordinary” crime and this had now resulted in her dad being left with a mortgage he didn’t want just as he started his retirement.
Roughley was sentenced to 38 months in prison. However, that will be served concurrently with her other jail terms and means it will not affect her projected release from jail on licence in autumn 2024.
Anthony Lea
Crooked solicitor Anthony Lea washed the dirty cash of organised criminals running an international timeshare fraud scheme.
The 66-year-old admitted laundering £465,000 for the gang, who used cold callers promising that they had timeshare buyers lined up for a quick sale. Lea, of West End Road, St Helens, was even found to have handed over bags stuffed with £180,000 in cash at motorway service stations.
A Trading Standards investigation began in 2016 after a tip-off from a pensioner in West Berkshire. But it soon became clear there were hundreds of timeshare and holiday club policyholders victimised by the organised crime group.
The masterminds of the operation, who have never been identified, posed as so-called 'resale firms' Simple Timeshare Sales and Marketing, Find Me Travel and UK Holiday Consultants. Lea, who was struck-off the roll of solicitors in 2001 for using client money for his own benefit, admitted four counts of acquiring criminal property.
He was jailed for three years in April this year.
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