Con woman jailed for 3 years

In court on Wednesday, Wanda Campbell, 43, of Auchenmalg, near Newton Stewart, was also ordered to pay compensation of £110,000, with £100,000 which had been offered to be paid within six months and the remaining £10,000 to be paid within three years.
Sheriff Scott Pattison at Dumfries stressed that the money had been transferred to Campbell to be kept safe and used as a cash flow for the business, but she had lied and started using it as soon as it was transferred and because of her actions it was never made available.
He referred to the liquidation of the business and stressed: “Even if there were other factors involved, the fraud had a significant adverse impact.”
Advocate Mr Cheyne outlined the medical and family problems facing Campbell and stressed that there was no evidence to show that the liquidation was caused by the fraud and pleaded: “I would ask you to show a little bit of Christian charity and mercy.”
The sheriff added that he had given careful regard to submissions made by her advocate Desmond Cheyne over a son with disabilities who was dependent on her, her own medical condition and the offer of compensation. However, he considered there was no alternative to the custodial sentence.
Campbell had been found guilty at the end of a seven-day trial of a charge of acting with others and fraudulently obtaining the cash at the business of James Haugh, Castle Douglas Limited, and elsewhere, between March 2012 and October 2013.
The business had gone into liquidation with the loss of 12 jobs the day before the trial started in September.