All language subtitles for The.Big.Swindle.S01E05.The.Holiday.Hoaxer.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-BurCyg_track3_[eng]

[Claire]
She sounded really genuine.

She sounded like a lovely,
friendly travel agent.

Really cheap, good deals.

But if it sounds too good
to be true,

it normally is
too good to be true.

I have been
to this house before

when I confronted Lyne Barlow.

I felt very anxious,
very depressed,

sad that she had
done this to me.

And I just wanted answers.

Emotions were just
all over the place.

[Gavin Havery]
This was a really big
complex fraud case.

In 20 years as
a local reporter,

I have never come across
a fraud case like this.

Everybody was
a victim, they were.
She tricked everybody.

The police were saying
this is a massive scale.

Hundreds of people
have been conned.

It could be up to about
800,000 pound.

For somebody to deceive people
in such a cold hearted
and callous way,

people that she knew,
people who trusted her.

There's a lot of anger
understandably towards her.

This whole trail of events has
made me think about,

what did I really know
about her?

And how true was anything?

My name is Louise Frost.
I live in a town
called Stanley

which is in County Durham.

[Gavin] Stanley's
a former mining town.

It's not the most
affluent of areas.

People don't have
lots of money to throw around.

[Louise]
It's quite a large town
with lots of little villages.

Generally, the people
in Stanley are born
and bred there.

People tend to stick together.

It's a friendly town.

And it's quite close knit.
People seem to each other.

They know
each other's business.

My name's Paul Stocks.

I'm married to me wife,
Elizabeth Stocks.

We've been married 17 years.

I live in Chester-le-Street,
which is five miles from
Durham city center.

We work hard
and we like our holidays.

My name's Claire.

This is Alex, my partner.

We live in Newcastle
and it's a nice area,
where we live.

Friendly neighbors.
It's a friendly street.

We've got a daughter Grace
who's seven,

and Frazer,
who's just turned three.

I live in a small village
on a newish estate.

which is where I met
my best friend who
introduced me to Lyne.

When I first met Lyne,
I thought she was
pretty quiet.

She was always well presented
and appeared to be a good mum.

Looked after her
children well.

Um, seemed to have
a happy marriage.

The word on the street was
that she had money.

She had a nice house
that was mortgage free.

Um, her husband had
a good job.

She didn't work,
was a stay at home mother.

Would see each other
socially, obviously.

I would be invited
to her house,

and parties,
and get togethers
and vice-versa.

She came to Portugal
for me 40th birthday.

I went to some of her events.

Within the social circle,
she was pretty quiet,

you know, she wasn't the one
that was center of attention,

even when it was like
her house and her parties.

She wasn't the,
you know, "look at me,
it's all about me,"

and didn't really brag about
what she was doing.

Generally,
everything she had, like,

designer handbags,

clothes of a nicer nature,
rather than, like,

your supermarket shopping.

But nothing over the top.

She wasn't
dripping in diamonds
or anything like that.

I heard that Lyne was
going to do some sort of

travel agency course.

She started
selling holidays at
really cheap prices.

And people that I knew had
gotten really good deals.

Like I said,
everybody knows everybody,

so it was like,
"Oh, have you heard of this
lass who's selling holidays?"

And, "have you heard
what a great deal it is?"

It was a big buzz
and everybody was
talking about it,

and everybody wanted to
book with her.

Friends were telling us about
the couple of holidays
that they've had

with Lyne Barlow.

It was a couple of hiccups,
but for the price of it,

it's a really good holiday.

I heard the name Lyne Barlow
through friends who had booked
a Center Parcs holiday.

They were told about it,
saying that they were going
for new year

and the price of it,
then we thought, "Oh, yeah,

why can't I go on
a holiday like that?"

Cheap.

Few of us got
a big friendship group of

being away for new year.

And some of our friends often
go to Center Parcs

and always rant and rave
how good it is.

Lyne offered a good deal
which was obviously excellent

'cause you can pay that
just in school holidays,
never mind at new year.

I think it was about 26
in total, adults and children.

All agreed and said,
"Yeah, let's go. That's fab.
Let's book it."

So I text Lyne Barlow for
a few holiday suggestions.

And some of the holidays
was coming back and I
just couldn't believe it.

So I asked her
how it's so cheap,
and she just kept saying,

"I'm ATOL protected
and ABTA protected.

And because I'm independent,
I can cut out the middle man."

[Louise] She had a Facebook
page, erm, which promoted
all of the holidays.

Was some really good reviews
on there.

We thought it was cheap,

erm, because she didn't have
the overhead like the
big companies have,

so we thought
nothing was wrong, you know.

We just thought
it was straight forward.

So the general consensus was,
it was all fabulous,

you know, five star holidays.

You know, no holds barred,
like, everything...

everything included.

Sometimes even private taxis.

Couldn't believe that
they got such a bargain.

We did think,
well, that is cheap,

but we knew of other people
going on holidays,

so you had no reason to...

to doubt what she were
selling you because

she was an honest, erm,
nice person.

We all decided that
we needed two weeks away

'cause we was working hard.
Four of our friends work
for the NHS.

So they really needed a break
'cause they were working
all the way through COVID.

So I text Lyne Barlow
and she came up
with this offer.

It was 14 days in a suite,
in Turkiye.

And it's the Antalya region
in a place called Belek.

It was in a five star hotel,
all inclusive.

When I priced it up myself,
'cause I like to price up
all me holidays,

my price was 3,600.
So it looked like
a really good deal.

We go on one holiday a year
with our friends.

So there's nine of us.

We decided to do
the Norfolk Broads

'cause it was something
we've always wanted to do.

When we asked Lyne,
she come up with some
really good deals.

She helped us choose
which stops to go,

where the nice
restaurants were,

and nice pubs, dog friendly.

So she'd give us
all this information,

so she had done her research.

Everybody was traveling down
at different times

due to work,
due to other commitments.

So the plan was,
everybody would just
arrive at Center Parcs.

Some of us had never been
to Center Parcs before,

so it was part of
a Christmas present.

So we cut back on some
Christmas presents

because that was part of
the present.

So, it was a pretty big deal.

The car was packed up.

I remember I was sitting on
the bottom of the stairs,

putting my shoes on
and my friend who'd
made the booking,

they'd left earlier
and got there,

rang and said,
"You're not gonna
believe this.

There's no booking for us
at Center Parcs."

It thought it was
a little bit of a joke

until I heard
the tone of her voice.

It's definitely not a joke.
It's serious.

[Louise] A couple had
already got there,
they'd left earlier,

and got there and said,
"There's no booking for us
at Center Parcs."

We were like, "Really?
This can't be true."

So my friend then got on
the phone with Lyne

and she was very apologetic
and you know,

we'll get this sorted.
We'll get this sorted.

The first reaction
would've been

that this was
a genuine mistake.

They would've felt
a connection to Lyne.

They would've trusted her
to a degree because of
her friendship through Louise.

So I'm sure they would've
assumed that it was

an honest mistake or
perhaps even incompetence

rather than something
more sinister.

So she assured us
she would...

she would get us in.

So, off we go.

Get about an hour,
hour and a half
down the road,

and obviously,
lots of messages,

lots of phone calls
between the groups
that were all going.

And it just wasn't
looking hopeful,

that we were gonna
get to Center Parcs.

We eventually managed to
all meet up in a random pub

and as you imagine,
the atmosphere was
a little bit tense.

Some of the group that
didn't really know Lyne were

calling her and saying
she was a fake.

Because I knew
Lyne personally,

I was sticking up for her
and saying, you know,

she's not like that.
She wouldn't do this to us.

She wouldn't take our money.

There's gotta be
some explanation.

So Lyne then went on
to explain that

she had made the booking,
but somebody she fell out with

has cancelled the bookings.

[Sohom]
This must've been a bit of
a conflict for Louise.

She must've been torn because,

obviously, she wants to
support her own friends

that were going on holiday,
but at the same time,

she felt quite close to Lyne.
She knew her.

They had the same friends
in common.

So we turned around
and we just said,
"Look, let's just find

a travel lodge,
a Premier Inn.

Lyne agreed if
I found something,

she would pay
and she promised us

faithfully that she would
find us somewhere to stay
the next day.

So new year's eve,
we would have somewhere

to stay us all together.

Checked into a Premier Inn,
obviously made the most of it

and then, she got in touch
with um, with my friend

who was the main organizer
and said,

"Oh, look, I found something
that will sleep yous all."

She didn't want
any more money off us.

Lyne was happy to pay for
our night in the Premier Inn.

She was happy to pay
the extra money for this
new farm.

So I was feeling
a little sorry for her,

thinking, "Oh, she's gonna
be out of pocket here."

And all this running around
and, you know, stress
on her behalf.

So, in the morning,
we drove off to this farm.

It was just like a scout hut.

On a working dairy farm.

The toilets were in a bit of
a porter cabin outside.

So we went in.
It was just all
open plan, like,

about ten sets of bunk beds
either side.

There was no privacy.

The guy who ran the farm
helped us unpack the bags
out of the car.

And we asked him
where the hot tub is,

and he just sort of laughed
and said, you know,

there's not a hot tub.

At this point,
we were just like,

this is rubbish.

But let's make the most of it.

So new year's eve was
very different from

what we expected
in Center Parcs,

watching fireworks,
drinking champagne,
prosecco.

There was no firework,
but the very friendly

guy on the farm offered if
we wanted to milk the cows.

So on new year's eve,
we were milking cows.

Lyne Barlow got in touch.

And says, the only flights
we can get you
is from Manchester.

She said,
"Can you please come up
to my house

'cause I've not got
time to send you
the tickets out."

And she said she would email
the boarding passes for
coming back home.

The location of the flights
being changed during
the pandemic,

they'd probably thought that
it was a bit odd that
they weren't informed,

but at this point,
there's no reason
to suspect fraud.

[Paul] So I said to
my friend Garreth,

go up to the house
and collect the tickets.

But let her know that
we are not happy.

When he got there,
he was a bit taken aback.

She had a bandana on her head

and she looked really ill.

And she was telling Garreth,
"I'm going through
an illness."

When Garreth
made arrangements

to go to Lyne's house
to confront her,

he must've been
quite riled up.

He was ready for
a confrontation

and then, suddenly,
he's blindsided by

seeing a woman
who looks really unwell.

[Paul]
Garreth didn't wanna be
too harsh on her.

So he picked the tickets
and she said please have
a good holiday

and she apologized
for what happened.

And I said to Garreth,
look, things happen.

Let's just enjoy the holiday.

It seems like she's extremely
vulnerable and fragile.

So I'm sure he would've
been quite conflicted
at that point.

It would've deflated
the anger and tension
that he was,

that he had inside him.

So we landed at
Antalya airport,

so we picked our luggage up
and we was waiting
for our transfers.

And we thought we'd be
on quite a big coach.

There was our names
on a plaque

and there was
an executive bus there

just for us six.

We arrived at the five star
Titanic Deluxe hotel.

And we were walked in.

The hotel is
absolutely amazing.

We went up to the room
and it was an executive suite,

and the suite was
absolutely massive.

And the swimming pool is
just absolutely to die for.

I actually remember saying
to Garreth and going,

this is like you found someone
who's doing these
travel holidays

and we're getting
the best deals you can get.

[Claire] The holiday was
mainly for my son's
first birthday

and we thought
the Norfolk Broads would be

a great way to celebrate.

When we woke up
on the morning,

we packed the car,
woke the children up,

one didn't know
what was happening,

the other was really excited.

Are we there yet?
Are we there yet?
Every five minutes.

So it was roughly about
a five hour journey.

Then when we arrived,
we parked the car,

we had a little walk around.

We showed our children
the boats,

took a few photographs.

Went into the office where
you'd check in.

They looked and they said,
"No, we haven't got
a booking for your name."

So we come out of the office,
said, "What do we do?"

Rang Lyne Barlow.

She was so apologetic.

She couldn't believe
what had actually happened.

And she said,
"Give me five minutes.
I'll ring the office."

Phoned us back,
says no, there's been
a duplicate booking.

"Duplicate booking?"
I thought.

She's gotta be able
to sort something out for it.

But, you see,
it was the height of summer.

[Claire] We were all in bits.
We all got really upset.

It's our family holiday.

She says,
"Listen, leave it with me.

I've booked you into a house

in Norfolk, five minutes
down the road for one night.

And I promise tomorrow morning
I'll get you a barge."

So we traveled
all the way to the house,

living out of the car
for one night,

nine of us, bearing in mind.
Two dogs, one baby.

Lyne's modus operandi is
quite unusual.

She doesn't just take
the money and run like most
fraudsters would do.

She tries to correct mistakes
with little scenarios,

almost gaining
more confidence

from her victims
and making her appear
like the victim.

So that they end up feeling
sorry for her.

So this is a huge occasion.

From Claire and Alex's
perspective,

it's probably quite confusing
knowing what's going on

because she's in
communication with them,

she's engaging with them.

It does seem that potentially
some of her actions

might indicate fraud,
but at the same time,

she's trying to
fix things as well.

[producer]
Is that how you were feeling?

[Claire] Yeah.

[producer] Tell me
how were you feeling
at this point.

I was very upset thinking that
our holiday had been

duplicated, double booked,
but I had all faith in Lyne,

as an independent
travel agent,

finding us another holiday.

Spoke with Lyne
the next morning.

She said, "Bad news.
Can't get nothing for you
in Norfolk.

Travel to York.
There's a barge place
down there.

I'll try and get you there."

So we traveled to York
and everything went downhill.

So we traveled to York,
ended up four hours back north

after traveling
five to six hours south.

Gets to York, went inside it.

Living room, you couldn't fit
nine people in there.

Erm, was like
a student accommodation,

somewhere you'd go for, uh,
put your head down
on a night out.

I broke down
in tears and I said,
"Not staying here."

And she just
kept giving us, erm,

excuses saying
she was poorly.

She had cancer.
She was in and out of hospital

getting her chemo.

Took about an hour.

By this time,
we had decided.

Home.

We're going...
we're going home.

Erm, so we all got in
the cars really upset.

We actually went to
our friend's house.

We spoke to Lyne
on the way home.

And Lyne said,
"Yeah, I agree.

Go back to
your friend's house.

Order a meal,
I'll pay for it."

Sent bottles of wine,
champagne, blah-de-blah.

For Claire and Alex,
it must be a bit confusing

and a bit unsettling.

We see a pattern of Lyne
trying to make her victims

feel sorry for her.

She apologizes for
what happened,

she buys them cheap meals,
she buys them wine,

but we cannot forget
what Lyne actually did.

Lyne sent Claire and Alex
and their friends,
and their children

on a 500 mile wild goose chase
knowing full well that

they didn't have the barge
and they were about to
enter a nightmare.

Lyne knew exactly
what she was doing all along.

[Claire]
So, day three of our holiday,

Lyne offered us
the South Causey

which is in Stanley townfield.

So Lyne set up,
given there four,
I think it was five nights.

[Sohom]
She moved them onto
the other hotels.

Maybe she knew
that if she corrected
these mistakes now,

her victims would have
more trust in her,

so she could extract
more money out of them
in the long term.

But it was only about
20 minutes from our home.

But we didn't wanna go home.

We wanted to be on holiday.

So we decided to
just stop there.

Tried to make the best
of the worst thing, you know.

The holiday, it was like
a five hour drive down there,

four hours back.

Then another two hours,
a drive back to Newcastle.

In total it was something like
ten hours driving.

Twelve hours driving
in total.

It feels like Claire and Alex
are being sent on this

wild goose chase.

There's this catalog of errors
and I'm sure the frustration
and tension must've been

escalating, just building up.

[Claire] Living out of a car
with two children,

one being a baby,
two adults and then
the other family of five

was absolutely horrendous.

[Claire] Right, we're gonna go
knock on Lyne Barlow's door

to get this sorted.

Do we go, do we not,
knowing she had cancer,
she was poorly.

It's interesting that
some victims want to

confront their perpetrator.

They want that opportunity
to look them in the eye,

explain their anger
and their frustration
and get a response.

[Claire] I knocked on the door
of Lyne Barlow's address.

Lyne invited us in
to her house.

I looked at Lyne closely.

And when I was
speaking to her,

I was looking her in the eyes
'cause I thought,
you know, a liar.

Sometimes you can tell
they're lying by looking.
They look guilty.

So I looked in her eyes,
noticed that she had hair

growing back in her eye brows,
she obviously had
shaved them off.

Then I looked at her head
and she had a bandana on

and I seen a strand of hair
as long as mine

coming down one side,
and it was dark.

Erm, and then
I looked at her arms

and I could see the hairs
growing back so clearly.

She had shaved her arms.

And I believe I noticed
a plaster on her arm as well.

I didn't believe her at all.

This is the moment that Claire
finds out that Lyne has been
lying to her.

She claims to have cancer
and she's trying to get
even more pity

from the victims
she's already defrauding.

So this really indicates
a high level of manipulation.

[Louise] So, wake up on
the first of January,

feel quite deflated.

and I just... I couldn't.

I couldn't spend
another night.

I will always remember
the conversation I had

with my husband
on the way home.

I put a status on Facebook,
said, "New Year wasn't
as expected,

but you gotta make
the most of the situation."

And I had at least two people
inbox me on Facebook

telling us that their holidays
hadn't gone to plan.

So that's when
the penny dropped for me.

I said,
"Lyne is committing fraud."

She's taking people's money
for a holiday that was
never booked.

And I said that is fraud.

This must be
a horrible situation

for Louise to be in because

she's the one
that introduced her
circle of friends

to Lyne in the first place.

She also has to go through
the very awkward scenario

of explaining to her friends
who Lyne actually really is
and what she's done.

[Louise]
When we got home,
I physically couldn't

have sat in the same room
as Lyne because at that point,

I felt very emotional about
what had happened.

I felt very, um, disappointed.

Erm, felt that
I'm being lied to.

So I didn't want to see Lyne.

The distress of reacting to
such a traumatic experience

can take many forms.

Some people want to have
a confrontation

with the perpetrator,
but it seems like

in Louise's case,
she withdrew.

She isolated herself.

Feels like she almost
wanted to step back
from the situation.

Maybe there was
so much guilt,

and maybe a degree
of embarrassment
and shame as well.

Stanley's a friendly area.
It's a friendly town.

And it is quite close knit.
People all seem to know
each other,

and they know
each other's business.

At the Northern Echo,
we use Facebook groups to

post our stories and to share
local information about people

but also threads
that are posted within them

come up on our newsfeed,
so we get to

find out information about
what's going on as well.

And it was through
the course of doing
that work that

we noticed people
commenting about Lyne Barlow.

At this point, there was
several people saying

the same sort of thing,
so it was enough to
pique our interest.

Lyne has a number of people
asking her for refunds which

obviously she cannot provide.

So I'm sure at this point,
it would've felt like

the net is closing in
and there would've been

a huge sense of both panic
and also fear.

She no longer has the options
of plastering over the cracks

and continuing her
fraudulent activity,

and just hoping that somehow,
this would pan out.

People were saying that
they paid lots of money

to Lyne Barlow,
that they booked a holiday

with her and that they weren't
able to get refunds.

We didn't publish anything
straight away,

but we did contact the police.

And it was a couple of
months later

in September 2020,

when the police came back
and issued a statement

and said that
police were investigating,

that Lyne had been arrested.

And that they were appealing
for her potential victims
to come forward.

So we were helping with
the police investigations.

To, erm, encourage people
to come forward.

It was gonna be
a long running investigation.

Very wide ranging
with potentially

hundreds of victims.

At that point, we knew that
there was something going on.

[Paul] We got a phone call
from the reception saying

can you please come down,
there's a problem.

We were texting Lyne Barlow
and said, "You know what

this problem is?"
By this time,

she wasn't texting us back
and she wasn't online
on WhatsApp.

So we was a bit concerned.

We didn't wanna
alarm the wives.

So me, Garreth, and Cal
went down and tried
to sort the situation out.

And the manager actually
took us into his office

and he was saying that

you've only been booked in
for three nights of
your 14 nights.

So we was like,
well this isn't possible.

We've got a booking
confirmation saying
14 nights.

So the managers said
that's a fake documentation.

That's not what we use
for this hotel.

The manager says,
don't worry, you can just
stay here

for the duration
of the holiday.

But we want 2,800 pound
per couple.

We was saying,
well, that's not possible.

You need to ring
your head office

to try and get this sorted.

So he said he will ring
the head office

and see what he can do.

But he came back and said,
no, there's nothing we can do.

You've got two choices.

You either pay this money
or you're gonna have to
leave the hotel.

We was going,
there's no way
we're paying this.

We've paid our money,
we've worked hard
for this holiday,

and we cannot afford
to give you any more money.

So we had no option
but to leave the hotel.

Now, while this was
all getting sorted,

we had a full day
in the hotel

because the girls were still
at the swimming pool

while we were trying to
sort this out.

Said we are not paying
the 2,800 pound.

He says, well, we want
280 pound off you now

to cover the expenses
of the room for that one day.

Or he's gonna call
the police on us.

While this is going on,
we must've been in
the manager's office

for three or four hours.

Garreth is texting Lyne.

For Paul being threatened
by the presence of police,

it must've been
really confusing
and overwhelming.

And all of this is
happening at a time where

Paul is finally realizing that
it's all smoke and mirrors,

that his holiday plans
are almost non-existent.

And he must've felt this
huge sense of injustice.

He's not the one
that's done anything wrong.

It's Lyne Barlow, but yet,
it almost feels like

he's being treated like
a criminal.

[Paul]
While Garreth is texting her,
he got another message

off a family friend

saying that Lyne's
been arrested

and her phone's been
took off her by the police.

So we knew then that
we were on our own here.

The manager of the hotel,
he's saying,

if we don't pay the 280 pound,
he's gonna call the police.

We're all working people,
and we just didn't
have the money.

So we're living an absolute
nightmare here.

We're absolutely devastated.

Couldn't believe
what was going on.

I said to Garreth,
check your emails

to make sure our
boarding passes
that Lyne said she'd send

are in your inbox.

And when he opened his inbox,
he couldn't believe

that his boarding passes
wasn't there.

So that's when we really knew
we were stuck in Turkiye.

We had to somehow
break it to the wives

that had worked so hard
for this holiday.

And we had to tell them
that we were in the middle
of a scam,

and we need to pack the bags
because we need to be out
within one hour.

I feel like I've gotta
look after my wife

and I feel like
I've let her down in a way

because she's so upset
and then you're
quite frightened as well

'cause you're stuck in
a foreign country

and you just don't know
what to do for the best.

I said to Cal and Garreth,
we need to pay this money,

the 280 pound for the day
and we need to get out
of the hotel.

We don't want
the police involved.

We just decided to
get a taxi

to a local bar
and we could sit between us

and try and work out
what we're gonna do.

We got some drinks
and the girls are
crying their eyes out.

Even though
Lyne's been arrested,

I said that "just never know."

"Lyne will sort
this out for us."

And we were hoping
by a thread

that Lyne would
pay the hotel

the money that was due
and we could move back
to the hotel.

So we woke up the next day.

We checked our phone
and there was
no messages again.

So we knew now
we needed to try
and get back home,

back to England.

We checked the flights.
Unlucky for us,

within COVID, there was
hardly any flights.

We were still stranded
in Turkiye.

From Paul's perspective,
they really needed
this holiday.

And they really
needed a break.

So I'm sure there's a lot of
pressure on him.

He probably took
some of the burden on his
own shoulders and felt that

he messed things up,

which is obviously
completely unfair.

In the end, we managed to
actually get a flight

back to Newcastle
in seven days' time.

And that's the only flight
we could get back.

So with the flight
and the transfers
to get back to the airport,

and the extra seven days,

which cost us in the range of
an extra 1,500 pounds

to stay for
the next seven days.

So we spent quite a lot of
money getting out of Turkiye.
2,600 pound is a lot

of money for us.

So an extra 1,500 quid.

We didn't know
what we was gonna do,

so we had to put it on
a credit card.

And then we was
gonna have to pay
that credit card off somehow

when we got back home.

We start speaking
to our friends

and we thought maybe...
Was a rumor or not,

then we found out
it wasn't a rumor

and she had been arrested.

And then suddenly,
her website went down.

Her Facebook, that was gone.

So there was no way
to get in touch with her.

The next thing I knew was,
well, she was arrested,

erm, for fraud
and I couldn't believe it.

And I was...
A little part of us
was still...

hoping and wishing that
there was a valid reason

behind it,
that this was not

the Lyne that I knew.
There was something else
going on.

The Facebook group
had been created

for the victims so they could
share their experiences.

They were working together
to get information

and the police was
part of that investigation.

During the last seven days
that we were staying there,

we joined a Facebook group

and we was hearing
horror stories.

[Gavin]
It was at that stage
when we realized that

that was more than
just a handful of people.

The police said there was
potentially hundreds
of victims

and it made us realize that
this was a really big

complex fraud case.

It was really surprising
to know that

there had been hundreds
of people who'd been

potentially conned
out of money in this way.

In 20 years as
a local reporter,

I've never come across
a fraud case like this.

First day back,
I decided I need to
get answers off Lyne.

And I wanted my money back.

I went to her house
and rang on the bell,

knocked on the door,
there was no answer.

I looked through the window
and I couldn't see
any sign of life.

So I went around
the back of the house

and I just couldn't believe
what I've seen.

A conservatory
at the back of the house

was all burnt down.

When I came back
to the front of the house,

the actual neighbors come out
and they told us that

people had been around
and set fire to the house.

She said a lot of people
have been this week.

It's not just you.
To try and confront Lyne.

But we actually don't even
know where she is either.

She'd moved out of the area
as a result of the anger

that had been directed to her
because of what she'd done.

Erm, we heard that her house
in Stanley had been firebombed

and she no longer lived in
County Durham.

There was certainly
a great deal of anger

from the community
at Lyne Barlow.

I knew then that
that was it.

We'll never ever
see her again.

People started saying
the cancer claim was fake.

Nobody lies about cancer,
you know,

you don't lie about
things like that.

And I spoke to someone
who'd had confirmation from

the police that they were
investigating her.

She actually
didn't have cancer.

And that was when
my mind changed

and the hatred
and the negative thoughts
came about her.

You know,
the fraud's one thing,

but then the cancer was
just another level for me.

We'd heard rumors from
people that we'd spoken to

and that she'd told them
she had cancer

when they started asking
for their money back.

[Paul]
And that just made it
even worse for us.

We knew then
what kind of woman

we were dealing with

and she had no remorse
and no morals.

[Claire]
Cancer's very close to us.

We've got friends and family
who've, you know,

suffered from cancer
and she's got the audacity
to lie about it.

Lyne's obvious
character traits are

a massive lack of empathy,

she seems very callous
and calculated,

and she's clearly driven
by greed, wealth and status.

[Paul]
The police contacted us
and they then told us

how big of a scam
this actually was

and we just couldn't believe
how many people
she actually ripped off.

Through this next 12 months
after that,

the police was just keeping us
updated on the case.

On every update that
they was giving us,

it was telling us more
and more people
that would come through.

The police said
they'd never seen

a case like this before.

It would appear that
Lyne's victims were
far and wide.

Everybody was
a victim, they were.
She tricked everybody.

It wasn't until July 2022
that Lyne Barlow
was charged with

a number of fraud offenses
and money laundering.

And the court date was set.

She was committed to appear
before Durham Crown Court.

The reason it was sent
to the higher court is

the scale of the fraud
was so large

that magistrates wouldn't have
the power to give her
an adequate sentence.

Lyne Barlow
did appear in person

at Durham Crown Court
in October 2022.

She was photographed
as she entered the courtroom

accompanied by another woman.

She entered a guilty plea
to most of the charges.

She appeared hunched over.

She had long dark hair.

She certainly wasn't wearing
a head scarf.

[Sohom]
Lyne almost certainly
regretted her actions.

But there's a big difference
between feeling
genuine remorse

related to guilt
for her victims

and just being upset
that she was caught.

[Louise] I still can't
understand it now

why she would do that,
why she would do
what she did to

our close friends, our family,

our children, our husband.

[Sohom]
Obviously, at the heart of
Lyne's motivation

is an element of greed.

But I think there's
more to it than that.

She also has this
luxurious lifestyle.

So to me, it suggests
that she also wants

a degree of admiration.

She wants to gain respect
from her peers.

I think deep down to a degree,
Lyne must've known

that there's a good chance
she'd eventually be caught,

but I think she was
so caught up in the scam
at the moment,

she thought she could
keep it going.

[Paul] We estimated,
me and Elizabeth
lost 4,300 pound.

And that is such
a lot of money for

two people that work hard,

that we work for our holidays.

So this has put me off
seeking bargains

for the rest of my life.

She's just ruined
my confidence.

And I feel quite ashamed
about that. That I keep
letting her do that.

But that's how I feel about
booking holidays.

It seems that Paul's whole
outlook and perspective
has changed.

Paul previously was
quite confident.

He didn't really necessarily
question his own decisions.

Whereas going through
this experience,

I think it might've changed
his own outlook on life.

So he might perceive himself
as being a bit naive.

He might start being
a bit more sensitive

and defensive about
future decisions.

And unfortunately,
that is a consequence
of fraud.

Sometimes,
the victim questions

their own beliefs,
their own judgments.

Sometimes they even place
the blame on themselves,

which is obviously
incorrect and unfair.

[Gavin] I think it has had
quite a shocking effect

on the local community.

People trust each other
and know each other.

It is a close knit community.

From speaking to some of
Lyne's victims,

um, they're pleased
that justice has
caught up with her.

And for somebody to
deceive people

in such a cold hearted
and callous way,

people that she knew,
people who trusted her.

There's a lot of
anger understandably
towards her.

But she's now, erm,
gone through
the judicial system.

They don't have any sympathy
about what lies ahead
for her though.

[Louise] I think
people are bitter, erm,

because holidays,
it's a big thing
you save all year for.

And if you don't get
what you've paid for,

you don't get what you want.
It does have a massive impact.

This whole trail of events
has made me think about

how I judge people
and what I think about people

and you take things
at face value. Erm...

It's made us think about
what did I really know
about her

and how true was anything?

So anything she's ever
told me, I now question,
"Was it real?"

It must be really difficult
to try and just conceptualize

the fact that
a friend of yours,

somebody that
you've known personally

has tried to deceive you.

Not only might it make you
question your own judgment,

but it might even make you
question some of
your other friendships.

It must feel quite personal.
It must feel like

you can't trust people
in general in the future

because if Lyne came across
as so credible,

and if she could do this,
then potentially anybody can.

[Gavin]
Some people did get to go
on holiday it seems.

We've spoken to victims
who were convinced to
part with their cash

because they knew people
who'd been on holidays

and seemed to get
a really good deal

Lyne Barlow
seemed to be offering,

erm, discounted holidays
at an affordable rate.

And it seemed within
people's reach.

Erm, I think that's
what persuaded people.

So we don't quite understand
how the scam operated,

but some people did
get away it seems.

[Paul]
So all six of us still
love to go on holiday,

but we spend so much time.
I feel like I've got to be
so thorough.

We have to book holidays
in advance

with big reputable companies,

but it does cost us
more money.

I would never say never
to go to an independent
travel agent

'cause I still think,
you know,

there's some
genuine people out there.

We'd just come across
the one who wasn't genuine.

So if I could say anything
to Lyne Barlow,

I would say,
why did she do this?

Why did you think you could
get away for it so long?

You took so much money.
But actually lying about
having an illness,

for me, you're just
lowest of the low.