Wigan company boss 'motivated by greed' when she swindled landlords of thousands of pounds

Linda Murray, also known as Linda Vella, was the sole director of property management company Let Me Lettings Ltd, on Winstanley Road, Orrell, which assisted landlords with managing their tenancies.

Bolton Crown Court heard it is a legal requirement for tenants’ deposits to be put in a secure tenancy deposit scheme.

But Murray, 40, committed fraud by telling landlords she had put deposits into a scheme when she had not done so.

David Birrell, prosecuting for Wigan Council, said: “She even charged landlords a fee for placing their deposits with this tenancy deposit service.”

He said she entered into contracts with landlords which said the deposits would be held in the scheme, sent emails saying money had been placed into it and provided landlords with “bogus” documents purporting to come from the service.

Mr Birrell said: “She herself must have created these documents. There is no other explanation for it.”

The court heard deposits were not returned to the tenants or landlords, with the landlords left to pay back the deposits themselves.

Around £6,500 was lost between 2013 and 2019 in relation to nine properties.

Mr Birrell said: “It is the Crown’s case that Miss Murray kept the deposits for herself and so we say this offending was motivated by greed.”

Murray, of Ellerthwaite Road, Windermere, tried to dissolve the firm with Companies House when the losses came to light, but Wigan Council stepped in to stop this happening.

The court heard about the impact her actions had on the landlords in moving victim impact statements.

One woman said she still feels anxious about what happened and she struggles to trust people, as Murray was recommended by family and friends.

She said: “I felt very let down by how Linda acted and the lies she told. I felt she manipulated me and tried to make me feel sorry for her, even though she had no sensitivity to my situation.”

Another landlord said she had five miscarriages during this time, which have been attributed to stress and the loss of the money may have contributed.

Other landlords spoke of the “extreme stress, anger, depression and anxiety” they faced, financial loss, impact on their relationships, being unable to sleep and struggling to trust people now.

One landlord pursued Murray through the county court and obtained a judgement for three properties relating to deposits.

Murray pleaded guilty to eight counts of fraud under the Fraud Act 2006 when she appeared in Bolton Crown Court in November.

Eleanor Myers, defending, said Murray’s life was “spiralling out of control” but did not go into detail in open court.

She said she was in a position of responsibility and should not have continued working “in view of her personal circumstances”.

Miss Myers said: “She does understand the stress and upset she has caused, not just to the victims but to those around them, and she frankly wishes she had never put them in that position. She has asked me today to pass on her apologies to those who have been affected.”

She said it had been a difficult time for Murray and she had struggled with her mental health, but she was now getting support.

She highlighted her guilty pleas, lack of further offending and previous good character.

She said she had no income now and was applying for universal credit, with her parents helping her to pay the money she owed in county court judgements.

Miss Myers urged Recorder Gavin McBride to consider suspending any custodial sentence he imposed.

Sentencing, Mr McBride told Murray: “It is clear that your actions were an abuse of trust. These landlords knew you, they liked you, they believed they could trust you and you failed them.”

He handed down a 20-month prison sentence, suspended for two years.

Murray must comply with a 12-month rehabilitation activity requirement, pay £3,910 compensation and was disqualified from being a company director for seven years.

After the hearing, Sarah Hesketh told the Observer about her experiences with Murray, who took over the management of five properties she owned in Skelmersdale when she moved out of the area.

She said: “She did contracts for me and she took deposits. I have later found out none of the deposits were put in a deposit scheme.”

Ms Hesketh had to replace her tenants’ deposits, made claims through the county court and experienced a toll on her personal life – even avoiding visiting her mother in Orrell as Murray was living nearby at the time.

She described Wigan Council’s trading standards team as “amazing” and hopes further action will now be taken against Murray.

She claims Murray also took around £17,000 in rent and failed to pass it on to her.

Ms Hesketh suspects she may have taken hundreds of thousands of pounds in total from many landlords and hopes more complainants will come forward to report their experiences following the court case.

She has also contacted Action Fraud and the economic crime unit at Greater Manchester Police.

She said: “I really want to pursue it with the police because it’s only scratched the surface of what’s happened.”

Ms Hesketh has since sold some of her properties and is in the process of selling the rest, following her experience with Murray.

"I have lost any interest in it now,” she said.