A motorhome fraudster from St Andrews who raked in nearly £350,000 by scamming customers has had just over £2,000 confiscated.
Serving prisoner Christine Galloway was not present when a confiscation hearing took place in relation to the fraudulent scheme she admitted earlier this year.
Galloway conned St Andrews Motorhomes customers out of cash to prop up her failing business for 21 months
Vulnerable pensioners from across Scotland trusted her to sell their vehicles on their behalf but she pocketed the proceeds.
She admitted fraud and was jailed for 21 months.
On Tuesday, a joint minute of agreement produced at Dundee Sheriff Court showed Galloway’s total criminal benefit from the scheme was £347,450.
Sheriff Alastair Carmichael ordered the confiscation of £2,008.75, which had been seized by police.
The court case
Galloway, 68, formerly of Pitscottie, Cupar, had initially been accused of gaining more than £750,000 from customers by selling 26 motorhomes and 11 caravans without passing on the money.
However, the Crown accepted her guilty plea to fraudulently obtaining the lesser amount from a dozen, mainly elderly, clients between 2016 and 2018.
In one case, a customer had no idea Galloway had already sold their vehicle until they spotted it being driven along the motorway in front of them.
Sentencing her in June, Sheriff Carmichael said: “Several victims of the fraud were elderly people who had put their trust in you to act honestly.
“Your business at one time was well-run and respected.
“This consisted of multiple individual frauds over 21 months and your actions were deliberate, calculated and organised.”
Kelly Duling KC, defending, said: “She made a very grave error of judgment in committing this offence. The results have been devastating.
“The last thing she wanted was for anyone to have been left out of pocket.
“I cannot stress enough how devastated she is for the clients who trusted her.
“She will be haunted by it until the day she dies.”
Devastated victims
Retired paramedic Robert More, 66, from Dunoon, lost his £32,000 camper van and later set up a support group for Galloway’s victims.
He said: “We’ve not seen a penny and someone else is driving about with our van. We never got any compensation.
“There were people in their 80s who wanted to settle up for their vans because they were getting too old.
“A lot of people in the group feel as if they’ve been discarded.
“People have since died. This was our pension pot. She took that away from us.”
Galloway was banned from being a company director in 2020 after the company’s collapse.
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