AN ILLEGAL money lender who got his wife to take over the business while he was in jail has been sent back to prison.
Paul Stretch ran an unlicensed doorstep loan company in South Devon charging 50 per cent interest rates and carried on as if nothing had happened when it was raided by police and trading standards.
He was still lending money and collecting his extortionate rates of interest from the day of his initial arrest in 2016 until he was jailed for the first time in August 2018.
He then carried on running the business from prison with his wife collecting the money and making new loans from the couple’s base in Newton Abbot.
The only differences were that the books were kept in her handwriting and she hid them in a pillow case at a customer’s house so they would not be found if police raided her again.
Most of the customers were highly vulnerable and had been refused cash by banks and payday lenders. The initial case came to light when social workers alerted the police about a client who was in debt.
The business generated income of around £425,000 during the 10 years it was at its peak but the total amount loaned out had fallen to £14,180 by the time Trading Standards finally closed Mrs Stretch down in April last year.
They found £5,123 cash in a safe at her home in Twickenham Road, Newton Abbot, and the books were retrieved from a hiding place at a house in Torbay.
She had tried to conceal the nature of the business by pretending she was working for some of those who were repaying their loans to her.
In all, she made seven new loans for £6,500 while her husband was in jail, receiving £9,000 in total repayments.
Paul Stretch, aged 59, and Mandy, aged 48, both of Twickenham Road, Newton Abbot, both admitted illegal money lending and two counts of money laundering.
He was jailed for two years and three months and she was jailed for nine months, suspended for two years, by Recorder Mr Martin Meeke, QC, at Exeter Crown Court.
He told them: ‘You knew perfectly well that your money lending activities were a criminal offence but despite that Paul Stretch continued the illegal business while on bail.
‘You, Mandy Stretch, simply continued the business which had previously been run by your husband. The transition was seamless.
‘You were careful in hiding your records away and making entries which were false and deceptive. It was calculating conduct. This is activity which must be met by deterrent sentences.’
Mr Simon Mortimer, prosecuting, said Mr Stretch carried on running his business from his arrest in July 2016 until he was jailed on August 18, 2017. His wife took over ‘without missing a beat’ until her arrest in April 2018.
Mr Paul Grumbar, for Mrs Stretch, said her role was limited to winding down her husband’s business and the new loans had been arranged by him from prison.
She has never been in trouble before and wants to concentrate on running her household.
Mr William Parkhill, for Mr Stretch, said he has already served one long sentence and been forced to repay £315,000 under the Proceeds of Crime Act. He carried on the illegal business because he would have lost all the outstanding loans if he had not done so.