All language subtitles for The.Big.Swindle.S01E03.The.Wedding.Planner.Scammer.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-BurCyg_track3_[eng]

[Nicky] I never really
thought that I'd meet somebody
and get married.

When I met Jason,
things were different

and I knew
that he was the right person
for me.

[Sam] The wedding
that I wanted

was the princess...
Big, white wedding.

It upsets me
and makes me mad

that wonderful wedding
that I had

will always be tinged
with a bit of sadness
and anger.

This woman had taken
people's dreams away.

[Nicky] I never really
thought about
a wedding planner before.

That she's made
one of our happiest days
of my life,

when I should
have been celebrating

with my family
and my children,

to something
that I can't look back on.

Why would somebody
that wants to make your day,

the most special day
in the world,

be as cruel as she was?

[Dr. Sohom] She is faining
this emotional connection

because she saw them
as victims.

[Sam] My mum
was dying with cancer

and she saw pound signs.

[Carl]
To see all these people,

they were absolutely
heartbroken, horrified.

They'd lost all their savings.

[Dr. Sohom] This isn't
some sort of fraud

against a
faceless corporation,

these are real people.

[Alex] This was a lot
far reaching than just one
or two people.

Countless,
dozens had been scammed.

[interviewer] Thank you
for agreeing to tell us
your story.

You aren't nervous?
Wanna drink water,
a cup of tea?

-No, okay. Thanks.
-No.

[Jason] We live in Harrogate,
which is sort of
Nort Yorkshire, cross country.

I really love that, yeah.
Really nice place to live.

Really proud of where we live.

He worked
at the Army Foundation College
with my uncle,

who was also his best friend.

And he went to say goodbye
and punched me by accident.

She didn't speak to me
for couple of weeks
after that.

The amount of times
I have apologized.

And then in December
we got together.

Yeah.

I never really thought
that I'd meet somebody
and get married.

When I met Jason,
things were different.

I knew
that he was the right person
for me.

She begged me for months.
[chuckles]

-He's not even joking.
-For years.

"We're gonna get married.
We're gonna get married."
So yes.

[Nicky] After he had asked me,
obviously I accepted.

We turned around
and we all ended up
in this massive hope together.

My daughter was crying.

It was just lovely.
It was just so special.

[Jason] Weddings are massive,

especially if you found
somebody that you're
in love with.

I couldn't wait
to get married.

We were lucky enough
to be able
to put some money aside,

to be able to pay,
and put some money
towards the wedding.

[Jason] We planned
for a really,
really nice wedding.

For whatever the figure was,
we were ensuring

that we were gonna
pay for that
prior to us getting married.

So our future then
would be so much better.

I wanted to be debt free.

We certainly didn't wanna go
above £5,000
for the wedding itself.

I was super excited.

I was looking on Facebook,

and there was quite a lot
of selling cites on there

and quite lot of it.

I never thought about
a wedding planner before.

I saw Dana's post on Facebook

and it really drew me
to want to get married sooner.

The things that she
was offering was everything
that we wanted.

Had a look on her page
and everything looked
really nice.

[Jason] She had gone through
all the reviews.
I mean' she was very polite.

And then Nicky and her mum,

decided to take a trip over
before they're making
any commitments.

All the way over to Hull
to go and visit her.

[interviewer] Thank you
for telling us your story.

Do you wanna
have a glass of water
before we start?

I wanna have a coffee.

About in 2016,
Dana messaged me,

asking about some catering
for weddings.

Dana explained that she
was a wedding planner

and she was looking
for somebody to catering
for several weddings.

First I went to her house
so she can show us photos
of what she has done,

discuss what we needed to do,

and I can show them
many options
and stuff like that.

Dana came across
as a very genuine person.

Seemed to have a real passion
for what she was doing.

She showed me
lots of pictures.

Stuff on the website,

jobs and recommendations
and good reviews
that she had had.

It did look really good.

Made good sense

to hook up
and push both businesses.

We agreed to supply
wedding buffets and hot food.

Dana gave us couple of booking
straightaway,
which we fulfilled.

Dana used
to bring it all together.

You see,
you got photographers,
car drivers.

There's like photo booth,
special stands
which were there, catering,

everything seemed
to go really well.

When you involved
with somebody like that,

it's important
that you make sure
that everything goes legit

and she really did,

because it's your reputation
on the line as well.

They're advertising
your food.

Dana was using
our catering name
on the websites

as well as the food.

I had no problem
with them using pictures
at the time

because it was generating
income for us,

and everything seemed
to go really well.

[Sam] My name is Sam Leech.

Me and Phil got engaged
on 13th March, 2019.

We had been together
seven years
before we got engaged.

The plans changed
because my mum was diagnosed
with terminal cancer

in the May of 2019.

She had said to me
and my brother,
because we were both engaged,

"I think you might have to
bring your wedding forward."

Me and Phil decided

to plan the day for May, 2020.

Because my dad had passed away
three years previous,

I asked my mum to give me away
and walk me down the aisle.

I wanted a big, wide wedding,

and I wanted
all my family there

and all our friends.

I was scrolling
through Facebook,

looking for people who come
and dress places.

We decided to have a marquee

and I found a special offer
that Dana had put on.

So I messaged her
and asked what was included
in the price.

Then explained to her
my circumstances,

and she offered her services.

[Phil] We actually thought
nothing was wrong, you know?

We just thought
it was straightforward.

[Sam] So the special price.

I told Dana the reason
why I was asking
so many questions

was because I'd had
to bring my wedding forward

because my mum
had terminal cancer.

She told me that her day job
was a funeral director.

She told me
that she had lost her dad

and it was important
to have my mum there

and she promised me
that she'd make it all
look beautiful

so that the photos
look beautiful,

so my mum
could be part of my wedding.

[Alex]
Time was of the essence,
really, for them.

A lot of time with weddings,

stuff's planned months,
sometimes years in advance.

They needed something
a lot faster.

It is where Dana came in
and was able
to offer them something

that met their expectations.

[Sam] In one of my messages
to her

I called her an angel.

She was really understanding
of it.

Took a lot of weight
off your shoulders
because your mum was poorly.

-Yeah.
-And that's the reason
that you did it.

And I just said,

"Just, let's go with it."

It let Sam
be with her mum.

After my first messages
with Dana,

she quoted me £1,500.

We had agreed on a marquee,
that she had got a favor
from her friend,

and the dressing
of the marquee,

a photo booth, love letters,

a doughnut wall

and then just extra bits,
table center pieces
and things like that.

She was very lovely.
She offered us a drink.

She was very welcoming.

She showed me everything
that she had done.

She has books full of stuff.

She told me quite a lot
about her family life

and her son.

I actually felt
like I had known her for ages.

[Jason] She showed
loads of photographs,
loads of books,

loads of comments.

You could see
that the house was busy

with all the wedding stuff
that she's got.

By the time we had finished,

she said, "Yeah,
we can do that.

We can do the glasses,
we can do the water jugs,

the knives, the forks,
the cutleries, everything.
Yeah, we can do that."

In Nicky and Jason's case,

Dana went the extra mile.

She met Nicky and Jason
in person.

So, from their perspective,

it probably feels less likely

that she's going
to do something dodgy

or that she's a fraudster

because most people
would assume

that fraud is committed
by a distant
faceless corporation.

When you have
that personal interaction
and that personal touch,

you feel more comfortable,

and the person
you're speaking to
comes across as more credible.

Once we had been there
we got almost persuaded
to get more and more stuff,

while we were there,

which was brilliant for us
because it was stuff

that we didn't
have to think about.

I really thought
that it was a really,
really good deal,

and we could
get married sooner

and it was something
that, you know,
was in our budget.

She was so nice
that I thought

I would want anyone else
to not do it.

I wanted her to be there,

but I've never looked back

and think
that was the happiest time
of my life.

I look back and remember
what she did.

And I will never forgive her
for that.

Dana was very polite.

She was very, you,
"This is what we do.
This is how we do it."

So we thought
it's a lot of money.

But the good thing is,
she turned around and said
to Nicky,

"You could pay off
on a monthly basis."

So it wasn't the fact
we have that paid up
straight away.

It was done
over a period of time.

They agreed to a figure,
which was just over £2,000

and the agreement
was as of October

we were gonna pay
£227 per month to her account

up until the wedding,

and it was for the marquee
and stuff like that.

Everything that I went
to her with

she was more than
willing to help me.

It was really nice.
I felt really supportive,

so I'd message her
and she'd always
message me back.

[Jason] All the way through,
she was always there.
She'd answer the phone.

We always thought
that she was like a friend

rather than somebody
who'd organize the things.

I've never met Dana before.
I had only messaged her.

After my first messages,
she quoted me £1,500.

I thought that that price
was too good to be true.

So I arranged
to meet Dana in person.

and take by best friend
with me,

because she was also
going through personally
what I was going through.

And I thought
she would give me the truth

on what she thought of Dana,

if she thought this lady
is honest.

I met Dana in July, 2019.

She was setting up
a christening at a club.

And while I was there,
she went over to the manager
and said,

"Oh, I'm gonna arrange
that wedding fair."

And because
she was setting up, I thought
this is what she does.

Her husband was with her

and he was telling me
how wonderful

and how beautiful
these weddings was

that he'd help her with.

So it was all believable.

We sat outside
with Dana and her husband

and had a drink with them.

They spoke
about personal things
to us as well.

My friend said to me,

"She is genuinely
a nice person
who wants to help you."

Meeting somebody like Dana
at an event
that she has organized,

this christening,
that seems to be going well

would have added
an extra layer

to her credibility
and her legitimacy.

It might have
let the guard down

of the people that are there
speaking to her

because it's
a family atmosphere,

it's very different
from a business or formal
or corporate kind of setting.

[Sam] After I met Dana
in July,

she then sent me an invoice
to my email address

with the full amount
of the £1,500

and then asked for a deposit
of £600.

She sent me a receipt
through email

when I had paid the deposit
of £600 into her bank.

When I paid Dana,

it was around nine months
to the day of wedding.

I felt brilliant
that it had been sorted.

But I did feel a bit lost

and I remember texting Dana
and asking her,

"Is there anything
I should be doing?"

I felt like, although she had
taken all the weight
off my shoulders,

I should have been doing more.

And she replied and said,
"No.

All brides feel like this,

and everything's in order
and you got nothing
to worry about."

[Jason] It was three days
before the wedding.

It was a Thursday,
in the morning.

Nicky was still getting
text messages from her.

[Nicky] There was a gentleman
called Gav,

he was providing
a marquee for us,

who had messaged me

to say that Dana had actually
cancelled the marquee.

But she was getting it
from somebody else instead.

And she'd asked Gav
to transfer the money
into somebody else's account.

I then phoned Dana
and said "What's going on?"

She said,
"Don't worry about it.

I just had to get it
from someone else."

She said
that she'd organize it
and it's absolutely fine.

So I carried on with my mum
and my aunty

and my daughter
and we all got our nails done.

We all went
to the venue together,

so my mum, my aunty, myself,
Jason, my children.

We were hoping that Dana
would already be there
with her van,

and her putting
the marquee up,

and the chairs and the tables.

When we arrived at the venue,

um, there was no van,
there was no marquee,

no nothing.

There was a car parked
with a couple sitting in

that we had never seen before.

We assumed that one of them
was Dana.

They were the people
that she had hired

to come and fill the marquee

to make it really,
really special for us.

And they were still
none the wiser.

So they assumed
that she was gonna turn up
as well.

[Nicky] This is the worst bit.

Dana had messaged me saying,

"We're running late.
Don't worry.

We'll be there."

And that was the last message
I received from her.

By lunchtime
she hadn't turned up.

We kept ringing
and it just ringed through.

Then we thought it might be
a problem with phone,
so I rang

and then somebody else rang.

The couple that were there
to put the marquee together,

they rang.
There was just no answer.

It was surreal

because there was
somebody from Hull
that had turned up

um, and they were there to put
all the decorations together.

It was about 2:00 o'clock,

we had to go to the church,

to then do our rehearsals.

"When we get back, she'd be
setting up everything."

We didn't know
what had happened.

We didn't know
there was something wrong
with her.

We then left.

We went to do the rehearsal.

So it's in your mind.
"What's going on?"

Tried again to ring her,

still no answer.

Gav, who were gonna get
the marquee from,

had put a up a post
on Facebook,

talking about Dana,
saying, you know,

"You can't do this to them.

"It's going to be
the wedding day.
You've not turned up.

You can't leave them
like this."

It was the morning
of the 26 July, 2019.

I was scrolling
through Facebook

and it pops up.

A man who told Dana
never to book a marquee
with him again

and he would never do business
with her.

I initially panicked,
thinking, "I've booked
a marquee.

Is this the same person."

When I went on his Facebook,

the photos of the marquee
that she had sent me

were of his Facebook.

So I panicked, thinking,
"I have got a marquee booked
and he's now said

that he'd never do business
with her again."

When I rang him,

I explained to him who I was
and the day of my wedding.

And he said
he had never heard of me

and he has never said to Dana
that he would do a favor
for somebody

whose mum was terminal.

I was just panic stricken.

I didn't really know
what to do.

I rang my best friend
who met Dana with me

and told her,
and what she had said to me

was just try and get in touch
with Dana.

It might just be
a misunderstanding.

I made an excuse
to message her

and asked her,
"Do you know a videographer?

'Cause it was one thing
that I hadn't booked.

And the message is still
never being delivered.

I also tried
to ring Dana's phone...

and it just kept going
to voicemail.

[Phil] I was trying
to calm her down.

Just tried to reassure
that whatever happens,
we'll get married,

and your mum will be there.

Phil said to me that I needed
to ring the police

and ring my bank.

The day that I found out
was my mum's birthday.

I was busy ringing the police

and looking through Facebook

rather than spending time
with my mum.

[Carl] We worked
in the same building

and the wedding supplier
who makes cakes.

The bride-to-be
contacted the cakemaker

expecting a wedding cake

for a wedding
which was the following day.

But she didn't know anything
about this

and not had any payment
for it.

She was unable to get in touch
with Dana 'cause her phone
was switched off.

So I tried phoning her
and had the same response.

So I tried Messenger
and her Facebook page
disappeared.

It was a massive shock.

I was literally the next
when the wedding is.

Eventually I put
on Dana's profile page

asking what's going on

and if anybody else
is having problems
could you contact us

and try and get it resolved.

And then we got contacted
by a few more people.

And that's when we realized
there's a problem.

Lots of people came forward

saying that they had paid
for the weddings

and she disappeared.

So I set up
a group on Facebook

to try and help these people,
to get them supplies

and what have you.

The amount of people
that came forward,

it was mind-blowing.

[Alex] My name is Alex Grove
and I'm a journalist.

I got a message
from Carl Simpson

who was a local contact
of mine.

He made me aware of woman
who had been scammed

on the eve of her wedding.

Initially,
it was just one person.

Then we discovered
that another had also
been scammed.

We realized it was potentially
a lot bigger story

than just one person
being scammed,

and actually it turned out
that there were dozens.

When I started the group,
I was expecting
about six members

We ended up with nearly
a thousand members.

It wasn't just
couples getting married
but were losing money.

People that were
supplying goods
and stuff like that,

also lost their money.

We lost about a £1,000 worth
of cutlery and plates.

All the people had bookings
which were not fulfilled.

And there was just panic.

There's weddings the next day,
there were weddings
in three days,

then wedding is on
the following weekend.

There was so many

here there and everywhere,
wasn't just in Hull.

There's places booked
where we could never
have got catering

because we weren't able
to transfer food that far.

It was just mass hysteria,
that's all.

So I was totally shocked.

We just did whatever we could
to try and help.

To see all these people,

they were absolutely
heartbroken, horrified.

They had lost all the savings.

So I was totally shocked.

Didn't know which way
to turn.

Dana's customers
would have felt

that they had some kind of
intimate relationship
with her.

After all, they're letting her
into one of the most important

and personal parts
of their lives,

their weddings.

Dana was fanning intimacy.

She was fanning
this emotional connection.

And I think she did this
so they'd keep
their guard down.

And it's quite disturbing
to think that this whole time

she was pretending
to be personable,

but really she was seeing them
as cash cows.

Some of Dana's
personality traits
and characteristics

are similar to those
of psychopaths.

So not only is there
this massive lack of empathy,

but psychopaths generally
are quite charming
and manipulative.

In fact, I would say
that most psychopaths lie
to some degree.

they use their personalities

so that they can manipulate
people around them.

[Sam] The Facebook group
became sort of a, bit like,
support group, really.

The people asking
if anybody knew who could
do the flowers,

who could do the car
or their cake.

Then that's when the volume
of how many people
she ripped off

came through.

I was mad. I was angry.
I was upset.

I can't even explain
how mad and upset I was.

Nobody had heard from Dana,

and that's when I knew,

she disappeared with my money.

[Alex] Dana was nowhere
to be seen.

She disappeared off the face
of the earth.

People were frustrated
and they wanted answers.

There were dozens of people
that claimed that they
had been scammed by Dana.

All of these people
wanted justice.

[Nicky] I had a lot of people
message me

who had seen quite a lot
of negative stuff about Dana
on Facebook as well.

They had booked a wedding
with her,

and the most important thing
for me was obviously
getting married to Jason.

[Jason] It was shocking.

We've got a wedding
in two days.

We've got a hundred people
turning up for the wedding

but we don't have a venue
as yet.

Dana would have seen
her victims as prey all along.

The people
who were getting married
would have been quite stressed

and quite excited
about their wedding day.

So they
would have been distracted.

This would have allowed Dana

to continue extracting money
from them

and give her the opportunity
to escape

without them even really
paying her attention.

[Nicky] I can only describe
like the next

couple of hours of all days.
It was just being like a blur.

Numb.

I didn't know where to go,
what to do,

where to go next,

who to speak to.

I was angry. I was hurt.
I was upset.

Usually when people suffer
an acute
and unexpected trauma,

there's a whole range
of emotions.

Initially, there's this state
of disbelief
or being overwhelmed.

And once that's passed,

there can be
lots of different emotions,

from anxiety, depression,

anger, frustration.

Sometimes, people
isolate themselves
a little bit

and they
could be quite withdrawn.

[Jason] The realism,
when it kicked in
was, "No. It can't be.

She wouldn't do that to us."

Especially two days
before your wedding.

That was the hard bit.

Hoping the following day
we're gonna get a phone call

saying, "Oh, we turned up.
We did our work
through the night.

Everything is great."

Nicky was still
understandably concerned

three days before this marquee
wasn't there,

and Dana still
wasn't picking up her phone.

She wasn't
answering phone-calls.

Until the day before,
I still thought she'd turn up,

and I think
that's just my good nature.

I think I was just being naive
to realize

that how someone could do that
to somebody,

and how I fell for it.

[Phil] Felt a fool of myself.
I'd been suckered

by somebody
who was very clever.

A lot of these women
were left feeling embarrassed
and humiliated

by what had happened,

and that they got sucked in
and duped in by this lie.

[Jason] One of our friends...

had informed Stray FM.

And Stray FM rang us
and said,

"We wanna put this out
to everybody

to get you some support
and some help."

There were so many people
that came forward,

who volunteered to help us.

It was just unreal.

The Church then offered us
their room.

As I said to Nicky,
"Do you know what,
we've got the church,

we've got all these people
turning up.

If we have to get married,
we will still get married,

and if I have to sit
in the middle
of the church yard

and have pizza,

I don't care. That's how
we're gonna get married."

We then had to repurchase,

re-get another venue
for the daytime.

Nighttime, we got the venue
for free

but we still had to pay
for the food and set ups
and everything.

In total, it was about £6,700.

What she did prior
to our wedding

was unquestionably despicable.

There's no words
that we can say.

However she didn't ruin
my wedding day.

We made the best
of the situation.

We were having a laugh
and a joke at the front
of the alter with everybody,

just trynna
keep the spirits high.

[Nicky] There was a lot
of marquee jokes
in the speeches.

You know,
and everyone is brilliant.

And the day couldn't have gone
any better.

We know that Dana
was a good wedding planner.

Initially, she actually
provided a good service
to her customers,

but at some point
she made the decision
to start scamming them.

Was it premeditated?

Or perhaps,
it was opportunistic.

Perhaps, at some point she saw

that there was a way
that she could extract
this money

without actually doing
any of the work.

[Nicky] I was annoyed
at myself.

You just feel stupid
for trusting somebody.

And in all honesty,
I really thought
that she would turn up

if I just waited.

She wouldn't do it.

She wouldn't let me down.

[Dr. Sohom]
Dana is an established actor

and an establish liar.

We see this by the way
she's able to gain trust

in her victims.

She shows them affection,
she uses kisses and emojis
in her messages.

So to them,

there's a personal connection.

She's not just some
separate businesswoman.

[Carl] At one point
I felt guilty
for what had happened

because I felt like
we had helped her
get away with this.

'Cause she was using
our pictures
and all of that lot.

When you find out
that she's used you

to scam people.

It's so easy that people
can get sucked into this.

[Sam] When I called the police
and explained to them,

they said to me

it hadn't been past
my wedding day

so I couldn't prove
that actually

she disappeared
with my money.

Dana's name
was being battered about

and everyone
who had the Twidale surname

was being associated
with what she was doing.

Carl was technically
her husband

but they had been estranged
for a long time.

However, that didn't stop
people from targeting him

and assuming that he
was in on all the scams.

I wanted to help Carl

to make sure everyone knew
that he had nothing to do

with what Dana was doing.

He was getting
sent death threats

and he claims that actually
she'd also scammed him
out of money.

They were living
in separate houses

and he was in the process
of trying to divorce her.

He was mortified
by what had happened.

He felt incredibly remorseful.

A line he actually he used
to me was, "She should be
thrown to the wolves."

Which kinda gets across
just how strongly he felt
about her.

[Dr. Sohom]
After their marriage
breaks down,

carl tries to end it formally
by sending her divorce papers.

And what's interesting
is that Dana seems
to completely ignore this.

She is indifferent.

To me this shows
a massive irresponsibility.

And that's interesting
because that's
another criteria

for being clinical psychopath.

[Angela Ayliffe]
When I initially heard
about Dana Twidale,

she'd been working
as a wedding planner

and allegedly
organized weddings,

but not carried out
the services
that she promised.

As more and more
reports came in,

it was obvious
that she deliberately
offered services

that she was never ever
gonna fulfill.

So then, it is a fraud.

It transpired
that she had organized
weddings in Wales,

down south,
all over the country,

and she was promising to be
in two places at once.

It was decided that Homicide
would take any jobs

in relation to Dana Twidale.

And we would put 'em all
as one case

to submit to the CPS.

When I got
Dana's financial records,

I could see that there
was money coming in
from the victim

and I could see
money going out,

but it wasn't going
to where she said
it was going,

and it wasn't paying
for things in respect
to the wedding.

I screenshotted her
profile photo

and put it on my Facebook page
asking if anybody knew
where she was.

Because I met her husband
on the day she was dressing
the christening,

I knew where he worked
so I went to go and see him,

to ask him if he knew anything
about her whereabouts.

And he hadn't seen her.

He just said
that he didn't know
where she was.

That day, originally,
I thought

I've met her with her husband
who was singing her praises

of how wonderful
she'd been
at other people's weddings

and he was helping her
with the christening.

I originally thought
that both pulled the world
over my eyes.

So that's why I went
to go and see him as well.

And I could see straightaway
by his face

that he had no idea
what was going on.

After leaving Nicky and Jason
in the lurch,

Danna then decides
to run away.

It shows
that she was impulsive
and irresponsible.

Again, these
are typical features
of a psychopath.

[Angela] By July, 2019,

Dana's life was coming
crashing down
around her shoulders.

She had got
numerous weddings booked,

none of the services
had been booked.

Some of the weddings
were booked on the same day.

She was reported as missing
by her ex-husband

and a photo circulated

on Facebook of Dana
on the beach, abroad.

[Alex] Weeks were passing,
Dana was nowhere to be seen.

There were dozens of people
that claimed that they
had been scammed by Dana

and all of these people
wanted justice.

There was very little
the police could do

'cause just no one knew
where she was.

Things suddenly changed
when a picture
of her appeared.

A photo circulated
from somebody

who was on holiday
in Benidorm.

They had seen the pictures
on the Facebook,

and said, "She's staying
in this hotel."

[Alex] She has a very
distinctive tattoo on her back

which gave her away.

And immediately signified
that it was her.

Her ex-husband got a photo
sent of her
sitting by the pool.

You could see
that it was her
with all her tattoos.

How did she rip people off
like that

and then go and swan off
and sit by a pool
drinking cocktails?

On everybody else's money.

My feelings was
that she's a disgusting human.

[Jason] Even while
she was texting us,

she was in Benidorm

having a holiday,
spending our money
and everybody else's money.

[Nicky]
We almost felt embarrassed

that we're working overtime
to pay back the money
that we owe to people

and she's in Benidorm
by the poolside.

And we're stuck here,
dealing with the mess
that she's left behind.

We couldn't even afford
to go on a honeymoon.

We knew she was abroad
and the inquiries were made

to see
when she'll be coming back
into the country.

Police believed that Dana
was gonna return to the UK

because she
was staying in a hotel.

It was put
on the national computer
that if she landed anywhere

and the airports were aware.

So that we knew as soon
as she entered the country,

she would be detained.

Dana was subsequently detained
at the airport

and she was brought
into custody, into Hull.

[Alex] She was arrested
shortly after her arrival.

They interviewed her.

Wanted to speak to her
about the allegations
she was facing.

She didn't admit

that she had taken the money
with no intention
of fulfilling the services.

Initially, she was saying
that," I intended
to do the weddings."

I think I was even more mad
when I found out
that she denied everything.

Then, when I found out...

She was being
caught red-handed.

I had all the proofs
on the scale
that she had done it.

So then try and lie again?

[Alex] She was then released
on police bail.

During that time, it's thought
that she managed to pick up
some more jobs in Hull,

and there were reported
sightings of her in
takeaways

in and around the city.

People couldn't understand
how she was still free

and able to collect money
and work

when she was accused
of all these horrific crimes
against people.

[Dr. Sohom] When Dana
came back from Spain,

she continued to work in Hull,

and she did this
quite openly.

People saw her working there
and some people were angry
at her presence.

She seemed
completely indifferent
to this.

I think this really speaks
to her personality.

People from all across
the country had been duped in
by Dana.

A lot of these women
were left feeling embarrassed
and humiliated.

She managed o fleece
at least 20 couples

out of over £15,000.

That's what we know about.

But there's the potential
that she may have allegedly
scammed even more.

[Angela] Dana ruined
people's lives.

What might not be
a huge amount of money
to some people,

to those individual people,

it was money
that they didn't have.

Generally speaking,
psychopaths make
excellent con artists.

Not only do they have
that core lack of empathy,

but on top of that,

they tend to be very charming,
very manipulative,

very deceitful,

which makes them
extra dangerous

'cause they're very hard
to spot.

At their very core,

al psychopaths lack empathy

and they're very good
at manipulating others,

and they see everybody,
even their close friends
and family

as victims,
as people that they
can potentially exploit.

[Angela] We've got
a good case against Dana.

As well
as the wedding planning fraud,

there had been
previous allegations
earlier on

when she was a lot younger.

I found two incidents
back in '98 and '99.

There were allegations
that Dana had
scammed two males

who she'd been
in a relationship with.

She also was involved

in what the press office term
is a "Romance fraud."

[Alex]
Dana loved to use Tinder

as a way of scamming people.

One of the most high-profile
and really sad cases
was a vulnerable man

who had just lost his mother.

Dana claimed
that she was escaping
an abusive relationships

and that she needed money
to get away
from her violent ex.

He was a very caring man
and was happy
to give her the money

so that she could get away
and start a new life
for herself.

She had absolutely no interest
in him, romantically,

and she was just there
to try and scam him out
of as much money as she could.

She manage
to steal £40,000 from him,

and it had a huge effect
on him.

The way
that these people manipulate

is so real

that you couldn't believe
that you're in a relationship.

[Dr. Sohom]
One of the key things
that really stands out to me

is that Dana
has a parasitic lifestyle.

She's got this pattern
of leaching
off vulnerable people.

[Angela]
Between the first interview

and a second interview,

we had a total of 27 victims.

She said
that she needed the money

'cause she was...
In the second interview,
because she had been gambling.

She said that she got
into a vicious circle.

But I still don't believe
that she had any intention
at all,

otherwise she wouldn't
have been booking them
for the same day.

The evidence
that we had overwhelming.

We had got multiple people,
all saying the same thing.

Dana pleaded guilty
on her first appearance
at court.

When we finally went to court,

I read out
my victim impulse statement.

I said how it made me feel

that Dana would use
my mum's illness

to receive gains from me.

And then we heard
how sorry Dana was
for what she'd done.

She never looked up once.

She looked down at the floor.

And if she was really sorry,

then when she was caught first

she would have admitted it,
wouldn't she?

It was really hard
to sit there
across from somebody

that had done something so bad

and somebody that you thought
you could trust.

We just found out more
and more stuff
that she had just lied about.

[Jason] The hardest thing
was the fact

that every time something
was mentioned

she was looking across
at all of us

and she was smirking

as if it was just a game
to her.

And why would somebody
that wants to make your day,

the most special day
in the world,

actually be as cruel
as what she was?

And then to sit there
in the courtroom
and smile at Nikki

was despicable.

[Alex] When Dana
was sentenced,

it came to lights that she
managed to scam people

out of a total of £60,000.

She only had £600
in her account.

People were infuriated.

She clearly
didn't have the means
to be able to repay

what she had scammed
out of people.

Dana was given five years

and that was the toughest
sentence that the judge
could impose.

[Jason] I honestly believe
that the five years
that she was given

was probably the best outcome
that we could ever ask for.

[Sam] I was shocked
at how little she got

for the amount of money
that she'd swindled
out of people.

She has done
this sort of thing before,

I think
she'll do something else.

[Phil] What made it worse
for us

was the fact
that Sam's mum was dying.

It played on
that Sam was vulnerable.

I was probably
at the most vulnerable point

-in my life
that I've ever been.
-Yeah.

If she was let loose,

and she was allowed
to set up another
social media website,

she'd be doing it again.

[Sam] My mum passed away
on the 30th October, 2019.

And we finally got married

on the 15th October, 2021.

Although the wedding
was perfect,

I think it'll always be tinged
with a little bit of sadness

and anger towards Dana.

[Angela] If you're operating
on Facebook

and you're not delivering
the services as promised,

then you are gonna be brought
before the courts.

I think I've grown up
a little bit since that time.

Maybe a better judge
of character.

maybe, not to find somebody
on the Facebook.

[Jason]
Thankfully to everybody
helping us on that day,

we got the venues
that we needed.

It was at a cost

but there were so many
genuine people out there
that helped us.

[Sam] A lot of nice people
came forward, didn't they,

when i got my dress formed.

People really pulled together

to show that there's actually
nice people out there.