A Peterhead woman has been ordered to pay compensation to a group of former friends who she scammed out of £7,000 by pretending to book flights and hotels to a dream wedding in Thailand.
Natalie Green, 41, took it upon herself to arrange travel and accommodation for her pals so they could attend best friend Elaine Walker’s nuptials in Asia – but it was all a lie.
The shameless fraudster only confessed to her cruel con two days before the group were due to jet off, leaving the bride-to-be and guests devastated.
Some of Green’s victims, including Elaine, attended Peterhead Sheriff Court last month to see her admit fraudulently obtaining £7,547 from 18 people – the bulk of which related to travel and accommodation for five wedding guests in Thailand and further payments for a lodge in Banff.
Elaine, from Peterhead, said Green’s crimes have forever tainted her memories of what should have been the happiest day of her life and she slammed the sentence, saying it wasn’t “any kind of punishment”.
The court heard Green still owed £5,697 to the people who had given her money for the Thailand trip, but the rest had been repaid.
Green’s defence agent Marianne Milligan told the court that her client was feeling remorseful, adding: “She has lost her friends because of this and she accepts it is all her fault.”
Mrs Milligan said her client was in debt but would be selling her car “worth £3,000” to help pay the money back.
She told the court Green had been working at Grange Hall Nursing Home and attending college prior to her court appearances, but Mrs Milligan said, “that was now no longer the case”.
‘I don’t think there is any kind of punishment’
Speaking after today’s sentencing hearing, Elaine Walker told the Press and Journal: “That’s not justice.”
“The only friends she has lost are the ones she lied to, manipulated and deceived in the first place,” said Elaine.
“Yes, she did pay the Banff girls back, but the vast majority of people she stole from were the Thailand group – and with one exception – they have not been paid back.
“Even with the compensation order – it won’t cover what my mum then had to pay out to get the last-minute flights.
“I don’t think there is any kind of punishment in this sentence.”
‘I’ll never forgive her’
Elaine previously said: “Natalie ruined the whole memory of my wedding. I feel sick when I think about it,” she said. “It’s the betrayal – I’ll never forgive her.”
Victim Chevonne Millar, who entrusted Green with £1,530, said the fraudster had “no shame” and on hearing Green’s sentence she said: “I’m disappointed in a way because she doesn’t have to serve a punishment as such.
“But I’m glad we will receive money from her to help pay back Elaine’s mum – who bought our flights at the last minute.
“It’s still small consolation after 20 months of stress and anxiety – I just hope that she has learned her lesson and never does this again.”
Previously Miss Millar said: “It’s been very hard for us all to sit back and say nothing – all the while seeing her out living it up, effectively with our money.
“We maybe should have clicked that here was this student going out for meals four nights a week while we were all working overtime to help pay for the holiday.”
Green took the cash over 18 months between January 2021 and August 2022 – and even sent doctored images of flight bookings to back up her lies. Initially she was charged with stealing £11,000.
Another of Green’s victims was Lynsey Milne, who has since been repaid £2,500, had to break the devasting news to Elaine just days before they were due to travel.
‘Devastating news’
She said: “Natalie didn’t have the guts to tell us herself – I was reeling – we even tried to just scrape money together to let Elaine’s bridesmaid Ruth get there – but we didn’t have enough.”
Elaine’s mum, Trisha McPherson, had just been diagnosed with cancer and had told her daughter she would not be able to travel for the August 2022 wedding as “it was treatment or travel”.
Elaine said: “I’d found out my mum wasn’t going to be there – and then this. It meant nobody from my side would be there at all.
“My dad had died so it’s just me and mum.”
In the end, Trisha had to use her own money so that the friends could get to the wedding.
Elaine said: “She used her savings to buy flights for my friends just so I wouldn’t be on my own. She spent £11,000 on more last-minute flights.”
Trisha says she can’t forgive Green for what she did to almost destroy her daughter’s big day.
Elaine added: “We all trusted her – I still can’t believe someone would do this to their friends.”
Sheriff Annella Cowan placed Green, of Slains Court, Peterhead, under supervision for two years and ordered her to pay compensation of £5,697 to her victims.