THE MAN AND woman behind a fraudulent travel agency, La Mon, in county Down have both escaped serving jail time.

Kathy Ward was handed down a two-year sentence, suspended for three years, while Mark McConkey was given a one-year suspended sentence.

Both pleaded guilty to more than 80 charges at Downpatrick Magistrates Court relating to their business. The charges included fraud by abuse of position, fraud by representation, theft and forgery.

“The actions of these two individuals have had a serious impact on their victims coming as they did at a time of great economic difficulty for a lot of people,” investigating officer detective chief inspector Joanna Harris said outside court today.

“Today is the culmination of a long and complex investigation by the investigation team who worked tirelessly over a four year period to bring this case to court.”

There were more than 100 victims involved in the case, one that has been “widely felt” by the community, according to police.

Ward, 40, was hauled to court after she left many of her customers out of pocket. Some were stranded at airports and ferry terminals instead of enjoying the ‘holiday of a lifetime’ that was sold to them.

Between 2009 and 2010, she defrauded more than £110,000 from clients. It is understood she would take cash from one customer to pay for the holiday of another.

More than 20 of those who were impacted by the scheme were in court today, according to reports.

An apology was read out by Ward’s solicitor after the hearing.

He said, “Kathy and Mark deeply regret the emotional and financial stress that was placed upon their former customers. They would like to take this opportunity to point out that despite many reports this was not an orchestrated fraud to fund a champagne lifestyle.”

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