Joanne Maddison deceived long-standing friends, her aunt and uncle and, most shocking of all, her husband, out of thousands of pounds each. Mark Tallentire reports.

“JOANNE, remember me?”

Those were the angry words of Peter Cameron, Joanne Maddison’s uncle, as the fraudster was taken down to the cells after she was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison.

Mr Cameron shouted from Durham Crown Court’s public gallery, as a sobbing Maddison tried to hide her face while being led away.

“It’s no good crying now,”

Michelle Thompson, Maddison’s sister-in-law, yelled. Mrs Thompson lost £14,000.

“It’s crocodile tears – all the time,” Lindsay Smith, a former trusted friend, added. Ms Smith lost £2,500.

Maddison’s lies cost Mr Cameron and his wife, Janet, £22,000. The couple cashed in an ISA, took out loans and persuaded friends to lend money.

The fraud hit them so hard they had to sell a holiday home in Essex. They are now concerned for their future.

Outside court, Mr Cameron said: “Three-and-a-half years does not seem too bad, but in 18 months, she will be out, get re-housed and get benefits, whereas we are suffering for the rest of our lives. We cannot even look forward to next week.”

Mrs Cameron said: “I do not think we have got closure. I feel worse now than when I first found out.”

Pat Ives, Langley Park’s lollipop lady, had known Maddison for 25 years and considered her a close friend.

She was persuaded to part with £19,000, on Maddison’s promises that she would look after her and buy her son and daughter-in-law a home.

She said: “It is criminal. In 18 months, she is going to be out; clear of everything. We are still going to be paying the price.”

Maddison’s husband, Shaun, lost £104,000. In a statement to the court, he said: “I do not know where I stand. It will take years to recover financially.

“I cannot describe how I feel. Betrayal and devastation do not come close to how I feel.

“I sometimes think it is a bad dream and I will wake up.”

Mr Maddison, who was not in court, said later: “My concerns are for our children (aged 16 and 11). Considering everything she did, I think she should have had more (time in prison.

“You just do not expect your wife of nearly 20 years to make up this sort of charade for the length of time she did and then to discover all the financial things she did – and how she conned me and our friends and family.

“It was total shock initially and now it is total disbelief. I am concentrating on our children, trying to get them through.”

But the question on the lips of Maddison’s other victims remains: where has all the money gone?

David Crook, prosecuting, said there would be no action to retrieve any money under proceeds of crime legislation, and no order for compensation was made. Police found no evidence of an extravagant lifestyle. Everyone has their own theory.

Sentencing, Recorder Graham Hyland said: “I do not know where the money has gone. Nobody, it seems, does know where the money has gone. But most of it has gone.”

Afterwards, Mrs Ives said: “She is the only one who knows.”