Crooked travel agent who pretended to have cancer sentenced

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. She did much untold damage to local travel agents who simply could not compete at the unrealistic prices Her first victims were family and friends and she used their savings before setting up an independent travel agency, in which she fraudulently sold holidays, claiming them to be ATOL and ABTA protected, Durham Police said. She did much untold damage to local travel agents who simply could not compete at the unrealistic prices Travel industry source A local travel industry source said Barlow would offer deals such as a five star all-inclusive week in Dubai for just £500. The source said: “She did much untold damage to local travel agents who simply could not compete at the unrealistic prices. “People were literally throwing money at her.” The industry source said: “Barlow told her customers the reason her holidays were so cheap was because travel agents – legitimate ones – were charging large mark-ups on holidays, when in fact it was her prices that were too good to be true.” The court heard previously that the prosecution claimed the total of offending reached £2.6 million, though the defence will challenge that figure.