100 wedding couples left in lurch by online gambling addict
A businesswoman who left brides in the lurch by spending more than £30,000 of their money on gambling sites and a trip to Disney World has been jailed for a year.
Around 100 couples were 'left high and dry' by Sarah Cawthorne and her 'A Little Bit of Bling' business, which had promised to provide glitzy finishing touches to their big day.
Disgruntled women were so annoyed they set up the 'Burned Brides' Facebook page to vent their fury about Cawthorne after they paid for her to dress their wedding venues.
Cawthorne, from Hickmerelands Lane, Sedgley, was given a 12 month sentence for fraudulent trading at Wolverhampton Crown Court yesterday.
It is believed at least 100 brides-to-be throughout the UK were defrauded of more than £30,000 between July 2012 and September 2013.
Mr Mark Jackson, prosecuting on behalf of Dudley Trading Standards, said they received the first of 'an avalanche of complaints' about A Little Bit of Bling on August 20, 2013.
The complainant had paid upfront for items for her wedding, but despite assurances from Cawthorne the wedding came and went and the items did not arrive. When they turned up two days after the wedding, the complainant tried to return them and asked for a refund but Cawthorne refused.
Mr Jackson said the council, and also West Midlands Police, 'received complaint, after complaint, after complaint' about A Little Bit of Bling.
"The first some of these brides knew was when they got a call from their wedding venues as they were about to walk down the aisle telling them that their reception rooms were bare," he said.
"She even went to Disney World, leaving them high and dry."
Cawthorne soon began transferring large sums of money to online gambling accounts.
Mr Mukhtar Ubhi, defending Cawthorne, said the 32-year-old mother-of-two was of good character. He said: "She was suffering from an addiction to gambling which is no less crippling than an addiction to drugs or alcohol."
Two of the 'Burned Brides' said they were happy with the result, and praised trading standards for getting the case this far.
Jade Caddick, 32, of Hall Green, Birmingham lost £1,000 to Cawthorne, and said: "I think it is really good that she got a custodial sentence. Justice has been done. Trading standards have done an amazing job"
Sarah Broadley found out the morning of her September 2013 wedding Cawthorne was not going to deliver the goods she had ordered and paid for. Yesterday, Mrs Broadley said: "To be honest I was really pleased with the sentence."
