A fraudster businesswoman who made nearly £350,000 by ripping off caravan owners has been told to hand back just £2,000 of her ill-gotten gains, it has been reported. 

Motorhome dealer Christine Galloway left several elderly customers devastated by selling off their vehicles and keeping the profits for herself.

On Tuesday, Dundee Sheriff Court was told she had made criminal profits of £347,450 through a scam that she carried out over nearly two years, reports the Daily Record.

However, fiscal depute Lynn Mannion said the Crown had agreed to accept repayment of just £2,008.75 under proceeds of crime legislation.

The fraudster is currently serving a 12-month prison sentence after previously admitting ripping off her customers in a bid to prop up her failing business.

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Galloway, 68, spent two years acting as a broker to dupe motorhome owners into handing over their vehicles for her to sell on.

During sentencing, Sheriff Alistair Carmichael told Galloway: “You pled guilty to a serious offence in which you obtained almost £350,000 by fraud over a 21-month period. 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.

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“To adequately express society’s disapproval and to punish you and deter others there is no alternative but a custodial sentence. I will take into account your age, the remorse you’ve shown and your lack of previous convictions.”

Kelly Duling KC, defending, said: “The results have been devastating. She was, in a way, robbing Peter to pay Paul. She would like to issue the deepest apologies.

“She will be haunted by it until the day she dies.”

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It has been previously reported how retired paramedics Robert and Carol Moore, from Dunoon, Argyll, handed their van over to Galloway in 2018 but have never seen their £32,000 retirement nest egg since.

The couple had invested their pension funds in the Peugeot Boxer and were relying on the sale to help fund a dream trip to Canada – which instead left them in debt. Robert said: “We ended up having to put more money on credit cards and cut the holiday short.

“We’ve not seen a penny and someone else is driving about with our van.” Carol added: “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. She waited until the very last minute to make a plea.

“This was our pension pot. We could have sat it in the bank but we thought we would get enjoyment out of it instead. She took that away from us.”

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