A Manchester foster mother has been jailed for three years for masterminding a ruthless loan sharking racket that preyed on impoverished women.
Hard-nosed Dawn Lowe, 50, from Hulme, was paid around £24,000 of taxpayers’ cash to look after needy children while accepting almost £300,000 from debtors over a seven-year period
Between 2005 and 2012, she ran an illegal ‘payday-style’ cash loans business during which she exploited friends and neighbours using her mantra: ”Dawn knows best.”
One of Lowe’s 11 clients who borrowed money was sent abusive text messages in a bid to make her repay over £100,000 interest.
The businesswoman said she considered driving her car off a bridge or taking a drug overdose after she borrowed a total of £70,000 in a bid to ease her financial problems.
But she was then landed with demands for repayment totalling up to £185,000.
The victim who ran a sandwich shop and other businesses claimed she was ‘mithered to death’ by childhood friend Lowe who allegedly threatened to reveal the loan to her family if she did not pay up.
One text message Lowe allegedly sent to her read: “You better get the fucking money in or I will tell your son. I will come to the shop and will take it out of your till. Don’t think you can get away with missing this week. I need my money.”
It was claimed other texts from Lowe included: “Please let’s not be playing catch up, don’t think you know how pissed off I am, I need my money ASAP, if you don’t pay I will tell.”
A third read: “sorry for the text but you bring it on. I want £575 in my bank so start putting it in now. Can’t believe after how I’ve been. I’m sick of playing catch up. I’m being as fair as I can.”
“I don’t want it split in drips and drabs, my patience is running really thin. I’m struggling because of you, friend or not.”
The woman handed over of up £145,000 before Lowe was arrested in July 2012 during an investigation into her unlicensed money lending operation. She had been due to pay a further £40,000.
At Manchester Crown Court Lowe – herself a mother of two, from Hulme, Manchester, was convicted of 16 counts of carrying on a consumer credit business without a licence – but was found not guilty of one charge of blackmail.
She bowed her head as Judge Martin Rudland told her: “The victims involved were desperate. There was no prospect of proper assessment for their ability to pay.
”You decided what they should pay and for how long. They had little or no idea of the extent of their debt and was it not for your arrest they would have gone on paying.
“They were ill-equipped to cope with the situations they found themselves. Their finances were being manipulated and struck against them. ‘Dawn knows best’ was the operating system to which everyone submitted. The exploitation could have and would have continued almost indefinitely.”
He added: “You have brought misery to those you duped into your financial chicanery. You exploited those who were vulnerable and this distress was evident when they gave evidence.
”You targeted those who would be the most profitable. The activities were a way of life for you and you were not averse to applying pressure by threatening your victims.”
Earlier the court heard how Lowe, who took children on behalf of Manchester city council, used credit cards to access cash which she then loaned out to hard-up families – while switching balances on promotional deals to avoid paying interest.
Debtors were tricked into paying her up to three times the original sum.
No paperwork was provided by Lowe, and no records kept by her 11 ‘vulnerable’ victims including a mentally ill woman who cannot read. Lowe also ran an illegal catalogue business for 13 years, ordering goods for nine people and charging them ‘commission’.
When she was arrested she was found to have almost £800 in cash.
As she waited trial she brazenly took to the social media site to berate the ‘lying Judas’s’ as they gave evidence – even posting a message during a lunch break.
One message read: ”One looks like a rat anyway and the only truth she told was her name, hahaha.” Another said: ”Watch because my condemner will themselves in turn have to face the truth of their own lies.”
The messages formed part of a ranting running commentary by Lowe on her Facebook page which also featured pictures of her partying – on one occasion dressed as an evil-eyed blood spattered zombie at a Halloween themed bash.
Tony Quigley, head of the Illegal Money Lending Team, said after the case: “This sentence definitely sends out the right message. The message is that this behaviour won’t be tolerated.
“This is exploiting the vulnerable. To all loan sharks: if you carry on this activity you will be caught, brought to justice and sent to prison.”
Councillor Kate Chappell, Executive Member for the Environment, Manchester City Council, said after the case: “Loan sharks are ruthless criminals who target some of the most vulnerable members of society and exploit the fact that the economic downturn has left many people struggling to make ends meet.
“But the days when loan sharks could expect to get away with causing misery are over, and the illegal money lending team is working closely with the police and council to bring these people to justice.”
Picture courtesy of Damien Du Toit, with thanks.
