A travel agent who stole more than £217,000 from clients will not have to pay back a single penny.
Rita Hunter, 63, was sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court last November to four years and eight months in prison after pleading guilty to fraud.
The fraud related to flights and accommodation booked for clients which were not supplied or paid for – but she has refused to say what she spent any of the money on.
She was due to appear via video link from HMP Styal in Cheshire for a Proceeds of Crime Act hearing on Friday (February 22) but the link could not be established, reported the Liverpool Echo.
The newspaper said the money stolen was previously estimated at £250,000, but Lloyd Morgan, defending, said his client, of Sankey Street, Liverpool, accepted she benefited to the tune of £217,047.
The report added that prosecutor Christopher Hopkins said no assets had been identified, and at some point she has been declared bankrupt.
The judge, Recorder Matthew Corbett-Jones, said a nominal order of £1 would be made, which would be deemed paid.
“Although Hunter cannot pay the £217,047 now, prosecutors could apply to re-determine her available assets and ask for more cash at a later stage,” said the report.
This could be from any source of money she comes into in the future – including an inheritance, lottery winnings or other legitimately-earned income.
Hunter had been sent to prison in April 2018 for not repaying tens of thousands of pounds she defrauded from The Advantage Travel Partnership.
She had admitted using former customers’ credit and debit card details to pay for new bookings through the consortium while directing money to her own accounts.
Hunter, who ran Hunters Travel in Liverpool, was ordered to pay £33,000 to the consortium and handed an 18-month suspended sentence in 2016, but after only paying back £250 was sentenced to six months in prison.
She was due to be released on licence after two years and four months minus one month served on remand.
Many of Hunter’s victims thought she was their friend, but found out hotels were not paid for when it was time to fly home, the Liverpool Echo had reported.
In November, Judge Anil Murray asked what happened to the money, to which Brendan Carville, defending, said his client “doesn’t know”, adding: “It’s all gone.”