Jail term for holiday con

A Shropshire fraudster has been jailed for conning people out of their savings by selling them dream holiday homes in Turkey she never owned.

Joan Atesoglu made a total of £218,000 from the swindle in which she even targeted close friends, Derby Crown Court was told. The 64-year-old was jailed for 20 months after Judge John Burgess told her she had left her victims devastated and, in one case, penniless.

The court heard Atesoglu, of Buxton Road, Dawley, Telford, had been living a modest lifestyle for the past three years in a sheltered housing scheme.

But in 2003, as boss of Aegean Tourism in Marmaris, she advertised 16 apartments and studios "for sale" on the internet.

During a week-long trial this month in which she was eventually convicted on eight counts of fraud - which she had denied - the jury heard she told buyers she was the owner of the apartment block.

But in reality she only had a lease agreement with the Turkish owner, with an option to buy.

She managed to "sell" eight of the apartments but when she stalled on handing over the deeds, some of her buyers became suspicious.

Mr Michael Grey, for Atesoglu, also known as Joan Vickers, said it was her intention to buy the block of flats from the owner but she never managed to sell enough of the apartments to raise the cash.

He said that if it had all gone to plan then neither she nor the "buyers" would have lost out.

Mr Grey said: "She accepts that she was responsible for those people losing their money. Some were friends, some were acquaintances."

Sentencing Atesoglu, Judge John Burgess said he believed she had gone into the venture thinking no-one would lose out. But because of a dip in Turkish tourism at the time she had been unable to sell enough apartments.

He said he had "no option" but to send her to jail immediately because of the impact on her victims.

Judge Burgess said: "The experience has left one of the victims devastated losing her life savings. "Her dreams were shattered and she is now picking up the pieces with little money to spare."

By Wayne Beese