Victims of £350k fraudster call for her to be jailed over motorhome scam that robbed elderly of pension pots

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Victims of a £350,000 fraudster have called for her to be jailed over a motorhome scam that robbed elderly Scots of their pension pots.Brazen broker Christine Galloway, 68, spent two years duping owners into handing over their precious camper vans for her to sell on.The former director of St Andrews Motorhomes, in Cupar, Fife, was using the money to prop up her failing business, leaving a trail of elderly victims with nothing.She was initially charged with ripping off customers to the tune of more than £750,000 by selling on almost 40 vehicles.

But this week the Crown accepted her guilty plea to fraudulently obtaining a lesser amount of £347,450 from a dozen clients between 2016 and 2018.Among them were retired paramedics Robert and Carol Moore, from Dunoon, Argyll, who handed their van to Galloway in 2018 and have never seen their retirement nest egg since.Speaking on behalf of a victim support group she set up in the wake of the scam, Carol said: “Five years on, we’ve not received a penny back and we’re not likely to.“We wanted our day in court with her to tell her exactly what she’s done to these people.

We just see her as a coward.”Prosecutor Stewart Duncan told Dundee Sheriff Court on Monday that Galloway, formerly of Pitscottie, ran a well established business for about 30 years.Victims were told they would receive payment within 30 days of the sale of their vans, with Galloway telling them to hand over keys and documents relating to the vehicles.But the company went into liquidation in 2018 while scores of customers were awaiting cash for the deals they had agreed.Victims were intially told the case was a civil matter but investigators uncovered evidence of fraud.Among those victims was James Graham, who was 75