Crooked Fife undertaker jailed for £130k fake funerals scam

A Fife funeral director who sold fake plans to vulnerable customers as part of a fraudulent scheme has been jailed.

Barry Stevenson-Hamilton pled guilty to obtaining more than £130,000 by fraud when he appeared at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court last month.

He admitted selling more than 40 phoney plans by fraudulently offering prepaid funeral care packages from branches of Stevenson Funeral Directors in Fife.

The 39-year-old, who was CEO of the company at the time, returned to the dock on Thursday for sentencing.

He was jailed for 33 months.

Stevenson-Hamilton was accused of running his scam at its branches in Station Road in Cardenden, Queensferry Road in Rosyth, Station Road in Cowdenbeath, Links Street in Kirkcaldy and elsewhere between 2013 and 2019.

He sold plans, purported to be with Cheshire-based funeral giants Avalon, which did not exist.

The scam was uncovered by staff who worked for the firm.

We’ll have lots more on this story later today.