A stable-owning model who got her mother to pose as a 91-year-old millionaire to pull off an ‘audacious’ £1.2million property scam has only £375 left, a court heard.
Laylah De Cruz, 32, urged Dianne Moorcroft, 63, to change her name by deed poll to convince estate agents and solicitors she was the owner of a vacant £3m house in Kensington, London.
Moorcroft obtained a British passport and a Dubai resident’s permit in the name of the true owner, 91-year-old Margaret Gwenllian Richards, and arranged for the property sale.
The crooked mother-of-two helped secure a £1.2m bridging loan against the three-bedroom property before a buyer was found, and the money was transferred to Dubai. It was later withdrawn in cash.
Laylah De Cruz, 32, (pictured) who got her mother to pose as a 91-year-old millionaire to pull off an ‘audacious’ £1.2million property scam has only £375 left, a court has been told
De Cruz, a Dubai-based stable owner and model, encouraged her mother to take part in the scam after being ‘dazzled’ by fraudster Karl Cronin’s money, fast cars, and jewellery.
He did not stand trial and remains at large.
She was jailed for five years while her mother was imprisoned for five years after they were both convicted of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation earlier this year.
Laylah De Cruz (left) urged her mother Dianne Moorcroft (right) to change her name by deed poll to convince estate agents and solicitors she was the owner of a £3m house in Kensington
De Cruz blew a fortune on her luxury lifestyle and claims she only has £375 to her name
A confiscation hearing at Southwark Crown Court was told De Cruz only has £375 left.
Moorcroft has less than £2,000 in a Nationwide account available to hand over.
Prosecutor Teresa Hay said: ‘The value the Crown submits of benefit should be the full £1.2million.
De Cruz claimed she encouraged her mother to take part in the scam after being ‘dazzled’ by alleged fraudster Karl Cronin’s money, fast cars, and jewellery. He did not stand trial and remains at large
‘But the available amount in respect of Ms Moorcroft is simply to the value of a Nationwide Building Society account which as of this morning amounts to £1,928.55.’
In respect of De Cruz, Ms Hay said the position was ‘slightly different.’
She blew a fortune on her luxury lifestyle and claims she only has £375 to her name.
Ms Hay told the court today that neither woman ‘were the architects or principle beneficiaries’ of the fraud, adding ‘there would be some significant interest in [Cronin] if he came back to the UK’.
Confiscation proceedings in her case were adjourned until December 7 to allow De Cruz the chance to get representation and give evidence, which in the end may not be challenged by the prosecution.
Moorcroft, from Blackpool, was ordered to repay £1,928.55 within 28 days or face a one-month jail term on top of the three years sentence she is currently serving.