A CONWOMAN and her two sidekicks have been found guilty of plotting to swindle a retired teacher out of thousands of pounds in an equity release scam.
Carol Penfold told victim Carole Wood she could turn £70,000 into £500,000 in a decade and got her to remortgage her bungalow in Ashburton to raise cash.
Ms Wood was introduced to Penfold by her friend Antoinette Ede, who told her she could help her get out of financial problems.
The plot developed as Penfold persuaded Ms Wood to take out equity release on her £200,000 home, eventually generating £78,000 after professional fees were paid.
Ede was Penfold’s niece and joined her at one of the meetings with the equity released adviser, during which one of pair pretended to be Ms Wood’s sister to explain their presence.
Penfold also accompanied Ms Wood to meet the solicitor and escorted her to the bank as soon as the cash turned up in her account in May 2020.
Under her guidance, Ms Wood withdrew £48,000 cash in the space of three days and brought her secret lover Jeff Wilkes into the plot so she could transfer a further £15,000 via the account of his groundworks business.
Penfold schooled Ms Wood in how to lie to the bank to explain the withdrawals and to say the payment for Wilkes was for building work.
Wood believed Penfold to be acting as a friend and adviser and was unaware that she is a conwoman with convictions for fraud, theft and perverting the course of justice who received a four year jail term in 2007.
The…
