All language subtitles for The.Big.Swindle.S01E02.The.Fake.Funeral.Fraud.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-BurCyg_track3_[eng]

[Claire] The harbor's a place
my aunt would come often

right up until
shortly before she died.

My aunt put her
funeral arrangements in order.

It was a way
of feeling control
over her situation,

her terminal diagnosis
of pancreatic cancer.

She paid cash. £2,500.

When my aunt found out
she'd been conned
by the funeral director,

I think it took from her
every last shred of dignity.

That's something I can
never forgive him for.

[Beatrice] Barry
was very amenable.
A very caring man.

The perfect undertaker.

He was winning awards.

He said he was
a qualified registered nurse.

It was quickly a pattern
when pulling that folder out

that something
wasn't quite right.

[Ross] All it was going
to take was one person

come and say,
"Look, here's my letter.

It's time for me
to organize a funeral."

When I called,

I was told that
the funeral plans
didn't exist.

That Barry Stevenson
had defrauded them.

[Debbie] The one family
with the four policies.

It was Granny and Grandpa
and Mum and Dad.

£10,000.

[Ross] And when
they find out that
that plan doesn't exist...

It was heart breaking.

That sent me
into an absolute rage.

I was determined
that I would find him
and I would track him down.

[Ross] He's rumbled.
His house of cards
has come tumbling down.

[Debbie] This was personal.
This was someone we knew.

He knew about my family,
my children, our history.

That's what makes me angry.

-[producer] How are you doing?
-Not too bad.

-[producer] Looking
forward to this?
-[chuckles]

Not really. [laughs]

[producer] First, well,
if you could just introduce
yourself

and tell me what you do.

So, my name's Sarah Yorke,

and I work
as a funeral manager

in Tayside and Fife.

I was one of those
strange children
you would probably see

who was fascinated
by hearses and coffins
and funerals

and what that all entailed.

[mouse clicks]

[Sarah] The average family
arranges 1.4 funerals
in their life,

so to be involved in that

and to basically be
a guiding hand
from start to finish

is the most rewarding
thing ever.

When you're looking after
a member of somebody's family,

it is very difficult
for them to entrust
their loved one with you.

So it's so important
that every single person

is treated with dignity
and respect.

Without that
you've got nothing.
Integrity's huge.

You really have to be
respected in the position.

You have to be
an ambassador for what
this family's looking for.

[Sarah] Barry
came across really charming,
a well-dressed businessman.

He really did
come across well.

Very caring.
Very professional.

I worked for
quite a large company in Fife,

and had been approached
on more than one occasion
by Barry

to come into Stevenson's
and run it on his behalf.

First couple of times,
I didn't really take him on.

But sometimes,
you can get an offer
that's too good to refuse

and I ended up joining him
in February 2019.

[producer] Thank you
for agreeing to tell
your story today.

Please introduce yourself
and tell me what you do
for a living.

My name's Claire Beaton,

and I'm a staff nurse
with NHS Tayside.

I had a close relationship

with both my grandmother
and my aunt.

I stayed with my grandmother,
Betsy MacRae,

and my aunt, Betsy Douglas,
in Kirkcaldy

from being a toddler
until 9 years old

when I was sent
to school in Edinburgh.

In 2016, my aunt
and grandmother
were 95 and late 70s.

I think, at that age,

they were thinking
it was time to look
at funeral arrangements.

So, independent of me,
they went to secure themselves
some funeral plans.

My aunt and grandmother
just said that he'd advertised
locally,

that he had a number
of branches.

I think they probably
would have chosen
a local business

because the newspaper
that they would read
would be a local one.

They paid Stevenson's
Funeral Parlor £2,500 each
for the two policies.

So, I had been aware
that they'd purchased them,

the only thing
that she said was I have
all the documentation,

all you need to do
is buy a flower.

My grandmother seemed
to be quite pleased

that we didn't have to think
about the arrangements
or the cost

when the time came
for them both.

[Claire] My aunt had been
given a terminal cancer
diagnosis in the July,

and my grandmother
had unhelpfully broken her hip
in the September.

Up until that point,
the two of them were
fairly self-sufficient.

But at that point,
we realized that they would
need to be closer to us.

[producer] How
are you both feeling today?

-Good, thank you.
-Good.

[Beatrice] I work
for Fife council as a cleaner.

I knew nobody in the area.
Shelter was my lifeline.

I got to meet a lot of people,
made some good friends.

[Debbie] During the time
that we volunteered
in Shelter shop,

we came to meet Barry,

who was the owner
of Stevenson Funeral Homes.

Which was next door but one.

We used to conglomerate
at the back of the Shelter
shop

with the ciggy zone.

And we went out to have
a cigarette and a cup
of coffee on a break.

And if he was at the shop
or out and about,

he would generally
wander over and chat.

-He was very amenable.
-Yeah, he was.

Barry was very amenable.

[Beatrice] A very caring man.

Serious about his job,

serious about helping
the families that were
involved.

And he never
came across as anything
other than a nice guy.

The perfect undertaker.

Serious when he needed it.
Very empathetic.

Not a bad bone in his body,
I would have said.

Barry Stevenson's company,

Stevenson Funeral
Directors is a really
well-known company.

He had a huge
presence in Fife.

He had four funeral parlors,
he was winning awards,

and he was
a really well-trusted,
well-liked businessman.

And he had
a huge bank of customers.

In 2019,

they had a fantastic night
at the Scottish
Funeral Awards.

They really were the benchmark
for how to run funerals,

and how to operate
as an undertaker for very much
the rest of Scotland.

[Debbie] He was always
beautifully turned out.
He was well-spoken.

He said he was
a qualified registered nurse.

He fostered
troubled teenagers.

You know, there was so much
that he said he did

that made you think
like, "Wow!"

"You know,
this is a decent guy
for the community."

I'd been saying
for ages to Deborah,

"I must see
a better funeral policy.

I resent paying
a lot of money,

I'd rather have a black bag
on the pavement.

But we've gotta do something."

So Deborah came to me
one day and said,

"Mum, I've been talking
to Barry and he says
they do funeral policies."

And you know,
Barry had said to tell Mum

if she was interested
to pop in and see him.

[Sarah] A funeral plan
is something that
somebody takes out

as piece of mind
to prevent their children
or their siblings

or whoever maybe left
getting into debt or poverty

over a potential funeral
later on down the line.

It's piece of mind
for the person who's
taking it out

that they're not putting
that financial burden
onto their family.

[Ross] Part of the Barry
Stevenson-Hamilton business

was selling prepaid
funeral plans.

That means that
you pay the money
for the funeral up front.

The way that
these plans operate

is that the funeral parlor,
in this case, Stevenson's,
they take the money,

and the money is sent
to a bigger company,
a national trust.

In this case, it was a firm
called Avalon.

And that's in case
the local funeral parlor,

in case they get into
financial difficulties
or close,

or in case the customer
changes their mind,

their money is safe,
their money is secure,

and there's nothing
for them to worry about.

So, some time went by
and I went in to see him
in the shop,

and he showed me through
what they have, what they do,
and all the considerations.

He put me at ease and he said,

"Do you want
this kind of music?"

You know,
the general questions.

And I said,
"Yes, I think I'll do this."

So I went over there,
and worked my way through
the paperwork with him.

We know that Barry
was already a well-liked

and well-established member
of his community.

He already had
a number of branches.

Four that were open
and some of which
had won awards.

So there's really no reason
for the people around him,

the general public,
to doubt him.

On the surface,
he seemed credible.

He was empathetic.

Sounds good.
Sounds like he cares.

It's what you would want
if you were dealing
with that kind of situation.

And he never struck me
as anything else but that

until this story came out.

Then he changed.

[Sarah] Working for Barry
initially was a real
culture shock

from where I had
initially come from.

So there was
no restrictions in time.

I was the funeral manager,

I could come and go when
I pleased.

It was a very
relaxed environment.

Barry liked
to splash the cash

and he was always
very generous when
it came to his friends.

That's how Barry,
I eventually found out,
got his friends.

It was by
lavishing them with gifts.

He thought nothing
of spending a lavish
amount of money

on what you and I would
perhaps consider ridiculous.

So on one occasion,
we had been up to Dunfermline

and we were
going out somewhere.

And I wanted to buy a top

and met up with him
in the shopping center,

and he says
"Oh, what did you get?"

I said, "I've just
picked up a top.
I think it was about £24."

He said, "I've just spent
£600 on a jacket."

And I remember being like,
"Wow. That's a mortgage
payment."

There was no way
I would just nip up to town
on a Wednesday evening

and spend £600 on a jacket.

[Dr. Sohom] Barry
led a lavish lifestyle.

But on top of spending
money on himself,

he was also quite generous.

He would buy other people
these lavish gifts.

So it feels to me
that there might be
some insecurity.

He knows that
his natural persona
and personality is not enough.

He's literally trying
to buy friendships.

[Sheila]
Living in Fife is good.

It's a good area.
There's plenty to do.

You're within easy reach
of Edinburgh,

Glasgow, north as well.

Been married 54 years.

We came up here
after my husband came out
the Air Force in 1968.

And we've got
a son called Kevin
and a daughter called Karen.

We took out the funeral plans

just so everything
was in place for when
we're no longer here

and that it's
just there for them.

So they don't
have to do anything.

We decided on Stevenson's
'cause I thought,

"Well, we'll just
go somewhere local."

We made an appointment
and just went down
and spoke to them.

And they just explained,
gave us a booklet to look at.

For the amount of money
that we spent on the plan
for the two of us,

it came to £6,900,
which is a lot of money for us

and which we had saved
for to get these done.

When Barry gave me
the final figure,

it was around about £3,000.
£3,000 something mark.

I went and got my handbag
and gave him my bank card.

And he said, "Oh, my machine's
not working today."

I said,
"What's wrong with it?"

He said, "I don't know,
it's just not working."

I said, okay, I want
to get this finished with
now that we're this far.

Deborah took me
up to the bank,

I drew cash and we
went back to pay him.

We got back there
and he said £2,500.

-I think that was the number.
-Mm-hmm.

And I said,
"Why is it different?"

And that's when he said,
"We've worked alongside
each other for a long time."

He gave me an £800 discount

and that was what
I handed him over.

It was £2,500 in cash.

That was basically
my entire savings.

And he didn't even blush
when he took the money.

When somebody
comes into the office
and purchases a funeral plan,

there's a form
that's filled in
that is carbon copied.

There's three copies.

And the top copy
is sent directly
to the funeral plan provider,

in this case, Avalon.

The second copy
is then given to the client
to take away,

and the third copy
is retained in the office.

So there's a copy
with everybody.

The first instance of me
thinking that something
wasn't quite right

was a morning I had went
into the Rosyth office.

And the girl who was in there
had said that there had been
a family member

repeatedly coming in
and looking for their
plan certificate.

It'd been several weeks
since they had paid their
deposit or paid their money

and still hadn't received it.

And she was getting
a wee bit concerned

that maybe they hadn't
purchased a plan or that
it wasn't with Avalon.

So she pulled out
the funeral plan folder,

and it was quickly a pattern
when pulling that folder out

that something
wasn't quite right

because every single top copy
was still in the folder.

That should have been
sent away to Avalon,
the funeral plan provider,

but yet we had the copies.

I just initially
just took out the first one,

they were all
in alphabetical order,

but it wasn't
an Avalon certificate,

it was a certificate
that had just been made up

on our office
cream-parchment paper

with Stevenson Funeral
Directors' logo on it.

Instantly I thought
that it's not right,

definitely something's
wrong here.

[mouse clicks]

[Sarah] Once I discovered
there was something

not quite right
with the plans
in the plan folder,

I had to get my own clarity,
so I just contacted Avalon
and said,

"Look, I'm just looking
to check some details
on this person's plan."

And it's quite
an easy thing to do.

Quote somebody's name,
their postcode and their date
of birth.

And after the first one
came back, she says,

"Well, I don't have a plan
number for that person."

And I went, "Okay, I'll just
move on to the next one."

And I think
after the third one,
I had to stop and say,

"Oh, I think they might be
with another plan provider.
My apologies."

'Cause I didn't want
to alert anybody down there

until I knew for certain
what the circumstances
surrounding it was.

At the point
of discovering all that,

there was probably
an array of emotions
between shock and worry.

"How many other folders
could there be?

How many other families
are affected?"

Yeah, it was a difficult time.

[Sarah] The second
I went through the folder,

and after confirmation
from Avalon for the first
two or three,

it was for sure there was
something not quite right.

With the way he was spending
money right, left, and center

on buying Jeeps
for his partner

and boxer dogs
at just over £2,500.

Occasionally just taking
cash out the safe.

I was confirmed that
he was doing something

that he really
shouldn't have been doing.

I got pretty panicked
very quickly,

it's not something
you're gonna shout
from the rooftops

and you keep
that thing pretty quiet.

[Sarah typing]

I then had to hatch a plan
as to what to do now.

Barry could be quite
a slippery character

if he didn't want to be found
and also had a tendency
to appear in office

at a moment's notice
or just walk in.

And because I knew
he would remove any evidence,

I then had to set about
gathering the evidence
over a period of weeks

through the different offices
and ensured that I got as much
information as possible.

Without that information,
if I had just turned up at
the police station and said,

"I think this
funeral director's
committing fraud,"

and he had taken
all the folders,

how on Earth do you
possibly prove that?

I confronted him on a morning
once I knew all the evidence
was safely tucked away,

and I asked him
about the funeral plans
provided by Avalon,

and I pulled out the folder
and I showed him, I says,

"Look, this form should have
went to Avalon.

Why has it not went to Avalon?

And why have you provided them
with a certificate?

It's not your place
to do that.

These are not Stevensons'
funeral plans.

As a funeral director,
you cannot provide that plan."

And because he just
is a very difficult character,

he just shut down...

and he never responded.

And he closed the file
and took the folder in hand

and then walked out
the office.

And that was it.

Time is up.
I couldn't work there anymore.

I had as much evidence
as I could possibly
have gathered,

and it was time to report it.

So I left the office.

Frock coat, top hat,
cane, certificates in hand,
and contacted Police Scotland.

Reporting Barry to the police,

I should have felt like
there was a big weight
lifted off my shoulders

but I didn't.

I felt frustrated.

Nobody really understood
the severity of the situation.

I was left with,
at that point, no job.

Reporting it to the police,
and nothing. It was just,
"Somebody would be in touch."

The police then
have taken things
very seriously.

They waited until
Barry Stevenson-Hamilton
was on holiday,

and they've raided his office.

My aunt handed me the card,
and said, "Please, we've had
this through the door.

Can you please call?"

When I called the number
on the calling card,

I was told that
the funeral plans

didn't exist.

That Barry Stevenson
of Stevensons Funeral
Directors,

where they had
bought the plans,
had defrauded them.

I think for my aunt
it was particularly hard

because that is something
that she had had planned.

That she had paid for.

That she had helped
sort for us as a family.

£5,000 was gone.

How would she be able
to afford that again?

And for her to find out
when she was dying,
it was heartbreaking.

I was feeling frustrated
because I hadn't been there
to be able to protect them.

I looked for Barry Stevenson,
researched him online,

I saw that all of his branches
of Stevensons Funeral
Directors were still trading.

That concerned me

because he was still
in a position to be able
to defraud others.

My first thought was,
"I need to try and get
the word out,

have people understand
who he is and what he's done."

Deborah phoned me
one day and she said,

"Mum, have you heard what's
happened with Scoonie?"

I said, "No, what's happened
with Scoonie?"

Who is the window cleaner
in the area,

-and basically the lifeline
to everybody in the area.
-Yeah.

And she said, "Scoonie's
mum has died,

and he went into Barry's shop
to do her funeral

and there's nothing there.

There is no funeral,
there's no record.

Apparently there's some sort
of scam been going on."

[Sheila] When the police came,

it was a Friday,
9:00 at night,

and they just asked me
if I had a funeral plan
with Stevensons.

And I said, "Yes, I do."

They said, "Can you get your
policies to show me?"

Which I did,
and he looked at them
and he says they're useless.

He says, "We've
just discovered

that he's been
defrauding people
of their money

and giving out fake policies."

I felt sick.

The amount of money
came to £6,900,

which is a lot
of money for us,

which we had saved for
to get these done.

[Debbie] So I took
Mum's paperwork,

and I called the people
who he said the policy
was with

only to find that
there was no policy.

So then we knew he'd lied.

I tried phoning him
on the number that
he called me on,

and it was unavailable.

I tried texting him
on the same number
he'd text me on,

it was two different numbers,

and also
no response from that.

[Debbie] Once we were sure
that this was definitely
happening,

-I called the number
for the fraud squad...
-Fraud squad.

...in Dunfermline
and spoke to them.

They then sent out
a policeman to have
a look at the paperwork.

[Beatrice] Barry assured us
that people were coming out
of the cracks in the walls.

Yeah, he said to me
in text messages.

"You don't need to worry,
this is a mistake."

So you hang on to that

because the thought that
somebody had just taken
all of the savings you had

and someone who
we thought we knew

and were friendly with,
and he's just done that.

[Beatrice] £2,500 in cash.

Who would do that?
What kind of person
would do that?

So you're constantly
reassuring yourself
that this hasn't happened.

This is a mistake here.

But, yeah, it did happen.

I think my way of coping
with finding out he'd stolen
the money

from my grandmother
and aunt was just being
determined to bring him down.

Any review place
I could leave a review,
I would leave it.

Any funeral aggregator site
that had his details on it,

I would be emailing them,
telling them, "This is
what he's done.

Can you please remove it?"

I put zero star reviews
where I could,

I contacted lots
of local groups

and various
different funeral directors.

I contacted church groups,
community groups.

I contacted the press.

There were a lot of people
either ignored it
or said thank you,

but many were just
reluctant to cover it

because it was a part
of an active police
investigation at that point.

My first contact
with Sarah Yorke

was her reaching out
to me on Facebook.

I think she'd probably seen
a number of my online reviews

and she private messaged me
on Facebook,

explained she'd been
the whistleblower,

that she was sorry
she couldn't have prevented

my grandmother and my aunt
from losing their money.

Once I'd gotten
in contact with Sarah,

we realized that there
might be the need

for some sort of communal
safe space

where victims of the fraud
or their families,

because of the age
of the victims,

could share information
and get some support.

We set up a Facebook
support group

for the victims of Stevensons
Funeral services.

[Sarah] Claire
was an inspiration,

and went out of her way

to make sure the public
knew very quickly

what Barry had done.

So I was invited
to that group,

and have been a member
of that group since
its establishment.

For Claire, setting up
this Facebook group,

I think it would
have been beneficial

in a number of ways.

Firstly, it can feel
quite cathartic to share
the same experience.

It's almost like a form
of informal therapy.

As well as that
there's a strength in numbers,

and it's easier to expose
a scam when you know the scope

of how many different people
have been hoodwinked.

[Claire] For others,
I think it was just a really
good psychological support.

I think it was a really
important space to set up.

[Dr. Sohom] It could
also be quite disheartening
for Claire

when she actually realizes
how many other people
have been duped,

and the scope of this fraud.

[Debbie] You start
scrolling down,

and it's the one family
with four policies.

It was Granny and Grandpa
and Mum and Dad,

and they'd all taken a policy
and it was just over
or just under £10,000.

And as I'm scrolling,
I'm sitting, crying,
reading these stories

that they took
everything they had
and they gave it to him

because he was
such a schmooze.

Because he was so relatable.

I suppose that's what
a con man is all about.

I thought initially
that there would probably be

about 60 families
that I had counted
and handed in

to the CID of Police Scotland.

I was shocked later
to find out that there was
over a hundred.

[Debbie] It was
just incredible how many
people there were

because it was Cardenden,
Rosyth, and Us.

I just found it inconceivable
that somebody like that
could still be on the streets,

potentially defrauding others.

After initially reporting it
to the police,

there were several months
before they gathered their
investigations together

and then went into the offices
to clear out as much paperwork
as possible.

It was later on,
I then discovered
from the police,

that they had
actually had a court date
set for Barry.

[Ross] Barry Stevenson
is charged with running
a fraudulent scheme.

He then appeared
at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court
on petition.

That means
it's behind closed doors,

it's a private hearing,
and at this stage,

the accused doesn't make
a plea and he's granted bail.

That sent me into
an absolute rage

and I was determined
that I would find him
and I would track him down.

Barry was the kind of person
that thought he was clever,

but left a massive trail
of destruction in his path.

And by this time,
I'd begun to know
some of these victims

and got quite close to them,

and there was
absolutely no way I was gonna
let them away with it.

So I was going after him.

[mouse clicks]

At the point of discovering
that Barry had skipped court,

I then went, effectively,
on a manhunt.

His partner at the time,
his parents stay in Edinburgh.

And knowing that story
had went right through Fife,

there was no way he was
gonna stay in Fife.

So from Fife,
over to Edinburgh,

it's just a hop, skip,
and a jump across the water.

So I thought he's got to be
in Edinburgh somewhere.

I was determined to find Barry
so I looked on my WhatsApp,

and his profile picture
had changed to him dressed
in a full nurse's uniform

with clearly a nursing home
in the background.

So from then on in,

I just googled nursing homes
in the local city where
he was staying.

Whilst my friend then
found him on Facebook.

So, on his Facebook profile
was public information

that he worked
for a particular agency

that supplied local nursing
homes in Edinburgh city

with nurses and bank staff
and caring staff.

So I then became Miss Marple
and became detective
and thought,

"Well, it can't be
that difficult to find."

He was working then
under and assumed name
of Barry Fisher,

which was
his partner's surname.

And I lifted the phone
to a couple of them

and said, "I was looking
to speak to your employee,
Barry Fisher."

And, yeah, the phone was,
"I'm sorry, he doesn't work
for this company."

"Apologies, wrong number."
Hang up.

So on my third
or fourth phone call,
where they said,

"Oh, I'm really sorry,
he doesn't start until 8:00
on Friday night.

He's on the night shift."

And at that point,
I just lifted the phone

to Police Scotland
fraud department

and advised them
I knew where he worked.

I was utterly elated
that I had tracked him down
and so quickly, too.

Barry's biggest downfall
was always going to be

somebody who was more
experienced than he was.

And he thought he was clever,
and to think that I had one-up
on him was just fantastic.

Barry's career as a carer
comes to a very abrupt end.

He's arrested,
he appears at court,

and there he admits
that he falsely tried
to pass himself off

as being a registered carer.

[Dr. Sohom] The fact that
Barry could pretend to be
a qualified nurse

really speaks
to his criminal versatility.

He's able to swap roles easily

to commit any kind
of scam he does.

Almost like a chameleon.

[Sarah] It doesn't surprise me
at all that...
That Barry is a Walter Mitty,

decided to go into
another avenue

where he could socialize with
elderly and vulnerable people.

Whether it be nursing
or he had a certificate
on the wall in the office

to say that he had studied
in Birmingham University
and he was a qualified PHD,

and it was all just bravado
and fake.

Barry Stevenson
appears in court,
at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court.

There's probably about a dozen
of the complainers who are in
the public benches

waiting to see what happens.

I'd never seen that many
victims in court.

There were some mutterings
beforehand that a plea
had been agreed

and that Barry
Stevenson-Hamilton

was going to be
pleading guilty to some
sum of money that day.

Nobody really knew that much
and then at that point,

Barry Stevenson-Hamilton
pleads guilty to running
a fraudulent scheme.

We hear that he has
pled guilty to selling

just over £130,000 worth
of fraudulent plans.

[Sarah] The whole
courtroom erupted.

People cheered and clapped
and celebrated

as he was literally
handcuffed and led away.

And at that point,
I literally breathed
a sigh of relief.

This was something
that had been sitting
on my shoulders

for over three years,
and it was at that moment

it was like the world had just
been lifted off my shoulders.

Barry Stevenson
and the complainers who were
present are all in court.

At this point,
Sheriff McFarlane
has a decision to make.

She can't sentence him
straightaway because she
requires background reports

to be written up first,
so she defers sentence,

the decision that she does
have to make is whether

she allows Barry
Stevenson-Hamilton
to be granted bail

and to have his liberty
for these reports to be
written up.

Her answer was very decisive.

It was "No."

There is rapturous applause
within Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court

from the complainers
who are in the public gallery.

That was a great success
for them. A great victory.

[Claire] There was
lots of jubilation

when he was unexpectedly
led away in handcuffs.

I was at the court
for his guilty hearing
and he just sat there.

He never moved,
he never changed
his facial expressions.

And it was very frustrating.

We were hoping
that he was gonna
get five years.

But he got 33 months,
which is nothing.

The reaction to this
from the complainers
wasn't particularly positive.

They were quite upset
with what appears to be,

certainly in their view,
a sentence that was too short.

Because he's pled,
that was a fact
with first opportunity.

He's legally entitled
to a discount.

That brings the maximum
sentence down to 40 months.

For the victims to
actually be in court

and see the perpetrator
receiving justice,

it can give them a sense
of closure and validation

for all this anger
and frustration
that they've been feeling,

and all this tension
that's been building up
for several months.

Having said all that,
sometimes for the victim,

they don't feel
this sense of justice.

Potentially because
they don't think that
the sentence was long enough,

so the whole process
can also be quite deflating.

They feel that
they've left court
with this kind of emptiness.

I was doggedly determined
to have him outed.

I think that's possibly
what bonded me
with Sarah Yorke.

I think we're
very similar characters.

I think we just
couldn't rest until this man
was served justice.

[Debbie] This was personal.
This was someone we knew.

He knew about my family,
my children, our history.

And...

And he took that and used it
because we were comfortable
with him.

That's what makes me angry.

Looking at Barry's motivation,

his opportunity,
and his rationalization,

I think there's a few things
that we can extract.

It doesn't seem to be
just greed,

it also seems to be
about his own narcissism.

He spoke about the expensive
clothes that he would buy,

he liked to show off pictures
on social media

about all these holidays
that he went to.

And then in terms
of the opportunity,

this is interesting to me

because he clearly was
a successful funeral director.

You know, he won awards
in the past, so at some point,
something changed.

At some point
he probably realized

that he could extract
all this money and not have
to do any of the work.

Rationalization is the process

of somebody justifying
their incorrect actions
in their minds.

So in terms
of Barry's justification,

he only really thought
about the short term.

He thought about
the fact that it seems,
superficially at least,

that people are getting
a service for him.

He's taking their money,
and he's giving them
something in return.

But it doesn't really take
into account long-term
planning

and what's gonna happen
in the future.

I try not to think about it.

But, I mean,
you can't help it
when you're watching the TV

and there's things come up
for funeral plans and...

It just hurts too much
just to think about it.

[Sarah] I'm exceptionally
proud of standing out
within the crowd

and speaking up
for these people.

You have to imagine
it happen to your own family,

and that's exactly what I did.
I couldn't sleep.

To put my head
on the pillow and carry
that on my conscience,

it just was
never gonna happen.

At the sentencing hearing,
Barry's solicitor said that
he was embarrassed,

he was ashamed,
and that he was remorseful.

I don't think his victims
will believe any of that.

I'm not sure that I do either.

When people have
gone through this experience,
being defrauded,

then obviously it might
affect the way that they
trust people in the future.

They might be generally
quite suspicious.

But as well as that,
it can actually affect
your outlook on life.

It can make you
more pessimistic,

more anxious and nervous,
maybe you need a high level
of reassurance.

And it can affect
your self-esteem

and your self-confidence
in general.

Sometimes they have to
try and distract themselves.

Either through pleasurable
activities or through work.

And sometimes when it's
actually crossed the threshold
into mental illness,

they might need formal help,
like talking therapy.

It's one of the sickest scams
that you could think of.

You know, a funeral director
is dealing with your
last wishes.

He's just taking your money
and you're getting nothing
at the end of it.

What's particularly concerning
is that these types
of individuals

will probably just keep on
doing what they've been doing

in another area,
some other way.

Makes people
a little more aware of him
in particular, but...

I mean, there's so many
scammers out there nowadays
and it happens all the time.

Hopefully this makes sure
that Barry doesn't get to do
it again.