THE wife of an illegal money lender has admitted carrying on his business after he was caught and sent to jail.

Mandy Stretch took over the illicit business in Devon ‘without missing a heartbeat’ and collected £9,000 from vulnerable clients before being arrested.

Her husband Paul had run a £425,000 doorstep lending scheme for almost a decade and had carried on lending money and collecting payments while he was being investigated by police and trading standards officials.

He was first arrested in July 2016 but carried running the business until August 2017, when he was jailed for 27 months at Exeter Crown Court. A judge described the interest he charged as ‘swingeing’.

Charges against his wife Mandy were dropped when he pleaded guilty in 2017 and this enabled her to stay at liberty and carry on the illegal business.

Paul Stretch started his own doorstep loans business after working for Greenwood Personal Finance, which was part of the Provident Group, which was fully authorised and regulated.

His own business was not and had no official approval at all. He came to the attention of the authorities after health workers raised concerns about a vulnerable adult who had borrowed money from him at high rates of interest.

Another of his clients was a seriously ill cancer patient who had been turned down for credit by mainstream lenders.

He has already been forced to repay £315,000 under the Proceeds of Crime Act and both he and his wife now face jail sentences.

Paul Stretch, aged 59, and Mandy, aged 47, both of Twickenham Road, Newton Abbot, both admitted illegal money lending and two counts of money laundering.

They were both bailed by Judge Peter Johnson who ordered probation reports and warned them: ‘The fact I am granting bail should not be taken as any indication of sentence. 

‘You know these are serious matters, particularly in the circumstances of the offending.’

Mr Simon Mortimer, prosecuting, said: ‘Mr Stretch was jailed for 27 months on August 18, 2017 and that is when his wife took over without missing a heart beat. The charges against her go up to her arrest in April 2018. She collected £9,000.

‘Mr Stretch had continued to run the business between his arrest on July 5, 2016 and his sentence in August 2017. He made a minimum of 18 new loans and collected £14,000.’

Mr Paul Grumbar, for Mrs Stretch, said a probation report would cast light onto the relationship with her husband, which lay behind her involvement.

Mr William Parkhill, for Mr Stretch, said he knew the likely sentence. He is currently on post-sentence supervision.