Annabelle Allan from Halifax jailed for four years

At the time of Annabelle Allan’s arrest, almost £168,000 was still unaccounted for and remains outstanding.

She has now been jailed for four years at Bradford Crown Court.

Mr Recorder Bryan Cox KC told Allan, who has links to Bradford, that her deception showed “a considerable degree of sophistication” and that she had abused her position at Lloyds Bank to extract money from friends, family, and other acquaintances.

He said: “When you received complaints you fobbed people off with elaborate excuses.

“These were people that you knew, that you were in regular contact with, and your ability to perpetrate this offending shows a high degree of callousness and disregard for the lives of other people, some of whom you purported to be in friendship with.

“You were tricking people and misleading them to part with substantial sums of money.”

The court heard how the mother-of-two, now 29, was dismissed by Lloyds in 2019 when the scale of her fraud became known.

Bradford Crown Court (Image: Telegraph & Argus)

Before setting up her scam, she had applied for multiple loans in the name of her unwitting brother, racking up tens of thousands of pounds in debt.

Whilst on bail she worked in car sales and in 2023 sold three vehicles to buyers under her company’s name but had payments made into her personal bank account, netting her more than £37,000. Two of the vehicles were never delivered.

Prosecutor Marte Alnaes said Allan, of Buxton Street, Halifax, even went as far as forging a letter from West Yorkshire Police that purported to offer reassurance to her victims.

The court heard how Allan, an IT worker at Lloyds in Halifax, created a detailed and convincing fake Lloyds share scheme, which she used to get family, friends, and associates to invest tens of thousands of pounds in using her IT job as a cover.

She supported her deception by sending fake emails and messages from a fictitious person at Lloyds called “Declan Bishop”.

One woman handed over her life savings and as a result, now suffers with anxiety over money and fears being “left with nothing”.

In a victim personal statement she described Allan as “not a nice person” and that she hoped she would get the help needed to “treat her addiction for money”.

During more than two years starting in January 2017, Allan received a total of £495,771.33.

Of that £327,974 was refunded, leaving £167,796 unaccounted for.

Five victims paid more than £278,000 into the fake scheme. Some people received a return, but the deception meant that money was other people’s investments.

A number then re-invested but the returns stopped coming. When the victims asked where their money was Allan would make excuses. She would occasionally send cheques bearing her father’s forged signature, which then bounced.

She later forged letters from her solicitor offering reassurances to her victims that money would be repaid, as well as a letter purporting to be from the police telling people involved in the share scheme that it was real.

The police began investigating Allan in January 2019 and she was dismissed by Lloyds in April 2019 after she admitted opening accounts in her brother’s name.

Lloyds has since compensated five of Allan’s victims to the tune of £258,936. Having recovered £18,000 of that from Allan’s pension the bank is still owed more than £240,000.

Also in 2017 Allan applied for multiple loans and a bank card, and opened a bank account, in her brother’s name without his knowledge over a two-month period. The amount of money involved totalled £32,453.86.

Allan’s brother said he spent months contacting companies and trying to clear his name, which was “exceedingly difficult” as the loans and resultant County Court judgments affected his credit score.

He described his life as “being on hold for six months” due to the debts that his sister had created in his name.

Ms Alnaes said: “He was left with no option than to support the police in prosecuting his own sister [which led to] a significant impact on his family and his relationship with his parents and sister.”

Mitigating, Gurdit Singh said Allan had taken out a payday loan when she was 18 that plunged her into “a vicious cycle of debt”.

He described the debts as “steadily increasing and unmanageable” and that Allan was unable to meet minimum payments leaving her “desperate” and “isolated” and ultimately abusing her position of trust by committing fraud.

He said Allan had expressed genuine remorse for her offending and recognised the strain she had put on her brother and the mental toll on the wider family.

Mr Singh added: “It is a peculiar case in the sense that many of her victims have also provided character references in respect of this young woman.”