oh, my god, like, someone that you knew could deceive people that way. i was really shocked. and obviously, it was the talk of the town. she broke the dreams of hundreds of customers in her too—good—to—be—true travel scam. so many people out there that we've spoke to that have been ripped off by this woman. hello, durham police. i want to speak to somebody about this lyne barlow. it was durham's biggest everfraud inquiry. what she was doing was actually ingratiating herself with people, having lavish parties. she was popular. and we hearfrom lyne, in her own words. a person who i would destest... the person that could do this to people. i need to be punished for what i've done. have you got anything to say to the victims, lyne?

i've never met anybody like lyne barlow. - this was definitely- a once—in—a—lifetime job. right, 0k. this interview is being recorded, and it may be given in evidence if your case is brought to trial. i am dc 2441 blackett. you know i'm from durham police. you do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. anything you do say may be given in evidence. a fraudster lies, that's what they do. so you almost have to have that cynicism of anything they say. is it the truth, or is it lies? ali blackett, the detective who spent years bringing lyne barlow to justice.

it was her lastjob before retirement. the main motive, to me, has got to be greed. it's got to be. she liked that lifestyle. she liked spending money. oh, there was a snow machine, there was the red carpet, there was, like, the vip strings. it was very posh. i met lyne barlow through a friend of mine. we would have drinks together and then she would join on different other occasions, and we would do thirsty thursday at her house, and we'd all be invited to hers. you didn't have to take your own drink, like you normally would amongst the girls.

if we had, like, charity events, she would rock up with the most amazing expensive prize. they were always on holiday. and it wasn'tjust like a cheap holiday to spain, it was always mexico or dubai, or somewhere, like, a little bit more extravagant. clothes—wise, it was always designer. like, her handbags were always named, as were her shoes, and designer dresses and things. i think she wanted to be a millionaire, and she wanted to show off and show people what she could do and what she could organise and what she could give, and for people to like her or talk about her, like, "oh, my god, have you ever been to one of lyne barlow's parties? they're amazing. " there was this there and that there, which is really kind, but when you look back on it now, it wasn't even her money. but behind lyne's public face

lay a world of deceit. her wealth was ripped off from others, and it all began with her own mother. it started when her mum received some money from when her husband passed away, which was lyne's father. and lyne just basically took control of her mum's bank account. she'd done that on the pretext that mum was suffering so much with grief that she just wasn't able to do day—to—day management of her finances. so lyne's number got put onto her mum's account and, from there, she just basically emptied her mum's bank account. she did give me access to her accounts. she was aware that i could access them, and she trusted us. and then, i used to say — when she was expecting bank statements — there's problems, they're not coming, and things like that. to conceal the truth, lyne hid her mum's mail, and the police found five binbags of her post

in the attic. lyne told her mum that she could invest money, so her mum thought she was well—off. she thought she was well—off from the pension payout. so what the explanation was is that that money could be doubled, quadrupled, or whatever, through an investment. and the investment was supposed to be through lyne's husband and her husband's company. i said that they could invest, and that they would get a massive return on it. she went to the extent of actually creating bank statements. so she created a bank statement on her own computer, showing that she had large credits coming in from these investments, showing that the balance was over £1 million, and her mum had sight of those and truly believed that she was a millionaire. i feel like i'm sitting

here making an excuse, and there's no excuses for what i've done to my mam. she had bailiffs on her back because of unpaid utility bills that she was obviously aware of. she had markers against her, so she couldn't get any credit. i can't get any money out, why is that? - she even struggled to find herselfjust a basic bank account because all the markers were against her — they weren't against lyne, they were against her mum. in all, lyne conned her mum out of more than £500,000. and when that money ran out, she moved onto herfriends. she was totally normal. lived in a normal estate in stanley. this woman, who we're calling sarah, knew lyne from when she was a child.

she did not want to go on camera, an actor is speaking her words. she was always really generous with me. she was, when i used to babysit for her. she would always pay, like, a stupid amount for baby—sitting. a friend i met, we did the cambridge diet. we became good friends, lovely lady. she very out of the blue approached my mum and said, "my mum has invested a lot of money into paul's company, it will change your life, do you want to do the same?" because they had been living quite a nice life for the last five or so years before that, and we had been wondering, where does lyne get her money to have these parties and go on these holidays? and now we know it was from her mum, but at the time, we thought, this explains it.

they are clearly getting a lot of profit from the investment into paul's company. my mum did it, and i asked at the time, "are you sure this is right? " she said, "it'sjust lyne, like, lyne would not do that to us." i wanted to be needed and liked. i was struggling with that feeling from anybody else, ijust thought, she's going to have to be my friend for at least one year. it is quite an unbelievable claim to come outwith. if you want a friend, you don't suggest that you're going to buy their friendship for one year, but you're not even buying the friendship, she was ripping her off, she would have known she was ripping her off from the start. with her mother's money running out, sarah became worried. i thought, i'll message her.

i'm really worried about mum. i would be the same with my mam. i know it's difficult to understand. it'll change your mam's life. in all, lyne conned sarah's mum out of £100,000. my mum is so diligent, she's never been in debt, never overd rawn. i think my grandmother was doing food shops for her. and stuff was not getting fixed. when things were not getting fixed, my mum had to pick up the pieces. having lived a normal life, working towards retirement, she suddenly finds herself in a position where she had to start all over. she had nothing.

they were left penniless at points. other people had used inheritance to supply the money for the investment. what i can't get over is how she looked us dead in the eyes and told all those barefaced lies. and trying to trust anyone after that is really difficult. whilst she was ripping off family and friends, lyne's crime stayed under the radar, but now she tried her hand as a travel agent. and that was to be the start of her downfall. we contacted lyne. she gave us a price for a golf holiday, six of us, a really good price. competitive, a lot of others couldn't touch the price. we said, we will go ahead with that.

paul had heard about lyne from friends who had booked cheap holidays through facebook. there was a private minibus with a bar inside. the room in the hotel was fantastic. we couldn't complain. after three days, we got a phone call from reception saying, come down and see the manager. we went round reception to the manager's office, he said, even though you've got documentation for 14 days all inclusive, lyne barlow travel has only paid for three days. we couldn't believe it. were the holidays booked, or were you just saying they were booked? last—minute... someone had paid for your holiday, you did not buy them

the holiday, you used that money to pay for another holiday. you are in desperate need for already. you then spent it on that. a neverending circle. even the manager was ringing lyne. as soon as we didn't start ringing, the number was blank, the text messages were not going through from our phone, we knew we were in big trouble here. complaints about lyne were now being made to the police and ali decided to pay her a visit. hello, i'm dc ali blackett, durham police. she disclosed straightaway she was suffering from cancer. i am not very well, i have got cancer. she came across as very frail. she had a head covering on to cover the fact that she had hair loss from the cancer treatment she'd been going through. she had a walking

stick, as well. she was very unsteady on her feet. she said she had to sit down because she was so frail. it was the beginning of the covid pandemic, and lyne was assessed as high—risk. how would taking her into a custody area that we could potentially expose her to covid, nobody knew what that would do, we had to weigh that up first before making the final decision as to how we deal with her. she was never going to get off the hook. the decision not to arrest lyne meant she was free to continue running her dodgy travel business, and the customers kept flooding in. we booked ourfamily holiday with our friends to the norfolk broads on a barge. claire from newcastle spent £1,000 for her family holiday, and they drove almost 300 miles with their children

to get there. it must have been 11 o'clock when we arrived there. couldn't book on till 12. we took a look around at the nice boats, thinking, there's our boat. we had the name of the boat we were going on. went to reception, no booking. after a 600—mile round trip, claire decided to go to lynne's house to get her money back. ijust wondered if we can come in and chat about the holiday? she had a bandanna around her head. a big strand of hair coming down herface. i thought, have you really lost all of your hair? she invited us in. sat in the kitchen. she offered us a glass of water. i was asking her questions. within minutes, she accidentally knocked her glass of water over.

i said, something's not right here. i think she knew, she was panicking, she knew that she had not booked our holiday, the guilt was tripping in. and it certainly was. more angry customers were coming to her house. lyne! i can see you. i'm not daft. i'll be back. and i want my money. lyne was getting desperate. reaching out to neighbours, friends, family, to lend her money. this is when i was getting all the threats and things. i asked anyone i possibly could to help. it came up on social media about this fraud. i thought, it cannot be, she is not like that. i thought, that's not the person i was getting to know after all these years. this woman, we are calling her anna, she was close to lyne, she did not want to go

on camera, her words are spoken by an actor. i got a text through in the afternoon. hi, i think this is the most. embarrassing thing i've ever done. please don't let - this go any further. it made you shake when you read it. there are some very- unhappy people and mad. as a mam, it pulls on your heartstrings. is there anything you can i lend me in the meantime? i'm mortified even asking but i'm mortified even asking but i'm so— i'm mortified even asking but i'm so desperate. _ oh, my god. it's horrific. i could send three, that's all i have in the account. so, i transferred the £3,000.

hello, durham police. i want to speak to somebody regarding fraud. i want to speak to somebody about this lyne barlow. i already rang, i am not in the plane. i they said they had not received anything. we were driving to center parcs, we got told to pull over, it's not even booked. we were inundated with calls, 165 incidents logged in a two i to three—day period. how much have you paid? £4,000. £6,000. for the holiday, for the five of us. £1,000 on february the 14th. paid her £5,520. i have worked in the control room for 19 years, i have never seen the volume of calls and incidents reported for one particular suspect

regarding fraud. it was to become durham's biggest ever fraud inquiry. detectives were drafted in the investigation. the head of the fraud squad took immediate action. we decided we would arrest lyne barlow, regardless of health conditions. lyne answered the door. she was presenting wearing a headscarf. she invited us in. it was her and her husband at the address. we informed her of the allegation, that she would be arrested, and we intended to search the premises. while we were conducting the search, there was a number of calls at the door by people who had taken holiday deals and were essentially trying to get their money back. there was some lack of understanding from her husband as to why we were there.

you can't take her to the station, she's got cancer. she has chemotherapy in the morning. we informed him of the previous allegations. because he was questioning why we would arrest somebody who has cancer. lyne was taken into custody, and it was here that here that her biggest deceit was exposed. beneath the headscarf, she still had a full head of hair. her cancer and chemotherapy were just more of lyne's lies. within our custody sites, we have medical staff who can access medical records. and what was relayed to me by the time i got to the police station is that... she divulged that she hadn't had cancer and she'd never been diagnosed with cancer. have you ever had cancer? no. 0k. who had you told that you did have cancer? i everybody. everybody, yeah.

had you told people that you'd had cancer more than once? . yes. twice. twice, 0k. so everybody thought that you'd had cancer twice, i and that was not true? no. it was certainly a revelation that staged the investigation. and one of the decisions that was made was to inform the family because she was going to be released from custody, and it was clear that the family didn't seem to know that she didn't have cancer. would you ever use that sort of like as an excuse for things to do with the money and paying things back? did you ever use that? i used it for the business, - when people were threatening us and stuff, i used it for, like, please don't hurt us. - i'm not very well. that kind of thing. it confirmed that she was capable of lying, and certainly lying to individuals close to her. one thing is ripping people off, which is horrendous, another thing is actually

saying that you've got cancer which, for me, is the lowest of the low. why did you do it? why did you lie? cancer's not a jokeable illness. you're a disgrace of a human being. lyne's finances were so complex that police had to bring in a specialist accountant. there were 450 separate frauds and 1,400 victims. i received 16 bank accounts. within that, there was over 21,500 transactions to analyse. it was in excess of 1.2 million that has been identified

as lyne barlow�*s benefit from the holiday frauds and theft. with regards to how that was spent, it's very difficult to identify what was personal and what was for payments for other holidays, but it has all been spent. there's no pot of gold anywhere that i've found. lyne's home was attacked by arsonists and she left the area. police would later find out she was trying to leave the country. we received some information that she was potentially going to move away from the address that we believed she was at. so we deemed her to be an increased flight risk, and because of that, we wanted to be able to put her onto bail conditions so that we controlled her movements and she couldn't abscond. do you wish to speak to a legal adviser now or have one present? no. any reasons why you don't want them present? i'm just going to answer the questions honestly that you're going to ask. it was unusual not to have a solicitor, but at the end of the day,

that was her choice. her phrase was — she does not need a solicitor to tell us the truth. i did not set out to hurt i anybody or intend to hurt anybody, but i've done it. there was always this element of, yes, but i did it because... there was always that excuse on the sidelines as to why she's done what she's done. there is no evidencel to say why she did it. she didn't really provide an account as to why- she did it. she obviously wanted - a lifestyle and she continued to do what she did. at durham crown court, lyne admitted all ten charges against her. thejudge said she had an extraordinary talent for deceit. he described the betrayal of her mother as "breathtaking". she was jailed for nine years. have you got anything to say to the victims, lyne? will you apologise

for what happened ? i don't think it's long enough for what she's put people through, the heartache. obviously, i'm not thejudge, but there are people out there with real issues of cancer and other family members. like, i have a family member that's poorly, that's real—life stuff, she hasjust lied and caused heartbreak for so many people. we initially thought it was just the holiday fraud and i think the biggest surprise was when we realised what happened to her mum. unbelievable that her daughter could do that to her. the financial loss, although significant, is nothing in comparison to losing my family. i hope in the future there could be some reconciliation as life is so precious. i will love her until my last breath. you know what? now, i'm looking back, i i'm so pleased it fell down

when it did because i've been able to tell youse what's - happened, hold my hands up and say, i have done this - and i am ready to be punished for it, but i can also... - my family can get by with me not being here because i'm . in prison.

hello. if you thought summer had already taken a bit of a back—seat, just wait till friday and into the weekend. this is the area of low pressure that's developing. it will be responsible for some big changes. before that arrives, and as one area of low pressure pulls away into scandinavia, into a slightly quieter spell on thursday. still a few showers around to start the day in the north and the west. temperatures like they were on wednesday morning. but low pressure still close enough by for the shower clouds to bubble up once more. thing is, with thursday, there'll be fewer showers around. the heaviest of the showers, some will be across scotland, slow moving here. large rainfall totals for some, but equally, some will stay dry. northern ireland, england and wales, fewer showers by and large. many will spend the day, well, at least the bulk of it, dry. though, we'll start to see cloud gather towards the south—west. feel a touch warmer with winds that little bit lighter. now, into the evening, rain at times, northern ireland, north wales, spreading its way into central southern scotland. elsewhere, some clear skies into friday morning. temperatures 9—13 celsius again. but already the change is towards the south—west. this is the area of low pressure.

it's going to make it feel like autumn at times through friday and into the weekend. strongest of the winds, though, for friday, mainly towards the south—west of the uk. we could see gales around hills and coasts and some pretty rough seas developing too. it's here where we start with the rain on friday, some of it should become heavy and thundery. dry start elsewhere, a bit of patchy rain in scotland working its way north, but far north of scotland stays dry throughout. outbreaks of rain, though, spread to much of england, wales, northern ireland, maybe not too much east anglia south—east until late in the day. and while temperatures high teens low 20s, the strengthening wind will start to make it feel a little bit cooler. and that cooler story continues into the weekend. an unseasonably windy spell through the weekend too. not what you want to see this stage injuly. low pressure by saturday, will be to the north of ireland, wrapped around it, rain, but it's wrapped around it where we've got some of the strongest of the winds, far north of scotland and towards the south west approaches, widespread gales,

strong winds more widely on saturday than they will have been on friday. lightest winds through parts of scotland, but that rain will be persistent in the far north. heavy thundery downpours quite widely across much of the uk. they could give some large rainfall totals. strong winds, making it feel rather cool as well, despite seeing temperatures again, high teens and low 20s. winds strengthen for scotland on sunday. elsewhere, sunshine and blustery showers yet again.

live from washington, this is bbc news. nato leaders wrap up a crucial annual summit on a note of unity and with assurances for ukraine. congressional republicans spar with the head of the fbi, christopher wray, over accusations of political bias. and huw edwards is named as the bbc presenter facing allegations over payments for sexually explicit images.