A BOGUS travel agent from Okehampton who left customers stranded without holidays they had paid for is to be forced to sell her home to repay £59,000.

Susan Lee told friends and customers that she had contacts within the travel industry which enabled her to offer massive savings on cruises and luxury holidays.

She took £130,000 in deposits but left 13 families without the holidays they had paid for. Some paid as much as £8,500 only to be left stranded at the last minute.

Lee, aged 60, was jailed for two years at Exeter Crown Court in 2017 after she admitted fraud. She has now completed her sentence but was brought back to court under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Judge Erik Salomonsen approved an agreed confiscation order which set the amount from which she had benefited from the fraud as £130,000. 

Her available assets were certified as £59,000 and the judge ordered her to repay the money within three months or serve a further year in jail. He said the time period may be extended if Lee has trouble raising the money within the three months.

David Sapiecha, prosecuting, said it had been established that Lee’s only assets were her half share in the equity of her home, which has been valued at £59,000.

Nikki Coombe, defending, said: ‘The house has been valued and it should be possible to raise that amount.’

In the case last year, Lee was jailed after the court was told that she preyed on friends in Okehampton and customers of her sweet and toy shop or her husband’s joinery business.

She got families to pay up to £8,500 in advance for holidays and then fobbed them off with excuses when they called her to ask about confirmations of their bookings.

Some were left disappointed with bags packed on the day they were supposed to be leaving as Lee pretended she was still trying to sort out their flights.

She did provide some holidays but was running a Ponzi style scheme in which she was using the finds from new victims to try to honour promises made to previous ones.

Nikki Coombe, defending, told the original hearing Lee never intended to defraud anyone but had got herself into a muddle and tried to keep the business going. She said there were many satisfied customers who had enjoyed the holidays they paid for.

She said Lee suffers from diabetes and cares for her arthritic mother and her adult daughter who is suffering from a serious illness.