Mortgage advisor guilty of £100k fraud gets jail sentence and will be deported back to US

​While Judge Sandra Crawford ordered Marianne Smyth to serve the sentence half in custody and half under licence, she confirmed to Downpatrick Crown Court the 56-year-old will be deported back to her native USA.

She told the “incorrigible fraudster” her overall sentence would have been four years but she was reflecting the time she spent on remand in America before she was ultimately deported to NI to face the fraud charges.

With no restitution or compensation likely to be forthcoming to the victims, and neither regret nor remorse being shown either, Judge Crawford told Smyth that having duped her victims, Smyth’s culpability was high and she had caused substantial harm, over and above the financial loss.

“It is clear from the evidence presented at trial that you are a skilled fraudster, practiced in inveigling yourself in the lives and financial affairs of others, expert in deception and indifferent to whether the victims are friends or strangers,” she told Smyth who remained impassive in the dock.

At the end of her three-day trial in September, Smyth, a US citizen who was living at The Spa in Ballynahinch before she fled the country, was unanimously convicted on three counts of theft and three counts of committing fraud by abusing a position of trust, all committed between 20 March 2008 and 5 October 2010.

The jury heard that overall the victims, three married couples, had been duped into handing Smyth a total of £115,750, none of which was recoverable.

The eight men and three women, one juror was discharged on the second day, deliberated for just 20 minutes before returning unanimous guilty verdicts on all counts against Smyth.

During her sentencing remarks today (Fri), Judge Crawford outlined how the offences were committed against the respective victims and the evidence they gave at trial.

GAA legend Dermot McNicholl and his wife Ita were the first to give evidence, and Judge Crawford told the court they met Smyth to make financial arrangements to look after their children.

Initially, they gave her £5,000 as deposit for a house in Belfast but as that transaction progressed, Smyth told them “she had an even better investment opportunity,” a house in Newcastle which already had rent-paying, sitting tenants.

The McNicholls handed her a further £67,750 and Smyth gave them a “purported tenancy” agreement document and the court heard that in an effort to cover up her fraud, the defendant made monthly payments to the victims, making them think they were receiving their rental payments as part of that supposed agreement.

Judge Crawford said the victim had made repeated requests for the deeds to the property but that Smyth “came up with a variety of reasons why they were not available.”

The ‘rental payments’ stopped after Smyth fled the country and went back to the US and it was after that, the court heard, that the couple went to the house and discovered they had been duped.

When the sitting tenants and the owner confirmed they had no knowledge of the McNicholls, they went to Smyth’s home in Ballynahinch and Judge Crawford described how they found the property completely empty.

There was however, a copy of the fake tenancy agreement in the bin, along with other financial paperwork Smyth had left behind.

Judge Crawford told the court that when the ‘rental payments’ were taken into account, Mr and Mrs McNicholl were out of pocket to a total of £67,720.

The next victims, Patrick and Shauna Reid, had lost £23,000 and Judge Crawford said the couple had considered Smyth to be a friend, having socialised with her and how they had allowed her daughter to babysit the couple’s children.

Having arranged an “equity release mortgage” for them in 2008, Smyth advised them to pay the money into an account to “ring-fence” the £40,000 funds.

Within weeks however, Smyth suggested investing £23,000 into a high interest account, an account which she said she would set up.

Judge Crawford told the court that in May 2009, the couple asked for some of it back but Smyth again, came up with a variety of excuses, claiming that “she would need more time,” then claimed the money “had been paid into someone else’s account” and then told them, “she was going to the States for eight days and would deal with it later.”

The Reids never heard from her again, and nor did they see any of their money, said the judge.

The last victims, James and Imelda Savage, had written a £20,000 cheque to Smyth who had promised she would invest it in a high interest account.

Mr Savage paid out £20,000 and just like Mrs Reid, he never saw or heard from her again.

Judge Crawford told the court that in each of the frauds, examination of Smyth’s bank account showed that “funds were simply dissipated away.”

The PSNI investigation was “significantly impeded” by the fact that Smyth fled the jurisdiction, back to America where she committed a number of other frauds.

Judge Crawford said that in one US case, Smyth defrauded $150,000 from her employer but it was a second fraud, where she swindled $110,000 from Jonathan Walton, that led to her whereabouts being known and her eventual extradition across the Atlantic to face trial.

With some of the victims sitting in the public gallery, the judge praised their “stoicism and courage” in dealing with the case and trying their best to remember events from more than 15 years ago.

Judge Crawford highlighted that while Smyth’s offending was investment fraud, the victims themselves were not commercial investors and that the loss and impact upon them, went beyond merely financial impact.

Turning to the pre-sentence report compiled by the Probation Board, the judge said it was clear that Smyth showed little insight into the consequences of her offending and takes little responsibility for most of her behaviour.

Judge Crawford revealed that despite the “overwhelming evidence” in the case, Smyth still maintains her innocence “and seeks to attribute blame to others.”

However describing her offending as amounting to a “particularly egregious breach of trust,” the judge told the defendant it was clear that she is “an incorrigible fraudster.”

In a case where there was no mitigation, Judge Crawford said there were numerous aggravating factors including the “sophisticated” nature of the frauds which were pre-planned and committed over a protracted period of time, against multiple victims and which she took steps to avoid detection.

Judge Crawford said while a four-year sentence was warranted, following a ”skilful plea” by defence KC Gary McHugh, she would reduce that to 40 months to take account of the time that Smyth had spent on remand in a US prison while awaiting extradition.

With Smyth ordered to serve 20 months in prison and 20 months on licence, it is understood that she will face deportation once released.

Speaking after the plea and sentence hearing, Detective Constable Mark Anderson said: “Today’s sentencing is the result of a complex investigation conducted by detectives and financial investigators with support from law enforcement partners in the United States.

“To this day, Smyth denies all responsibility for her crimes. She now faces deportation back to the United States.

“Her victims have waited a long time to see justice served, and we want to thank them for their patience and cooperation with our investigation. Sadly, one of her victims died before court proceedings concluded and our thoughts are with their family today."