TWO women have been jailed after defrauding a vulnerable Whitby businesswoman out of thousands of pounds.

Elizabeth Johnson, also known as Hill, 67, of West Square, Scarborough and Machele Caroline Farrar, 60, of Manor Road, Scarborough, were jailed at York Crown Court after both being found guilty of two counts each of fraud by abuse of position, at an earlier hearing.

Johnson was jailed for four years and Farrar was jailed for three years and six months.

The victim in the case, Fiona Rhodes, 54, sadly died a short time after the investigation began.

Ms Rhodes had been running a caravan site in Whitby with a turnover of around half a million pounds.

For personal reasons, she struggled to cope with the management and financial side of her business and in 2013 was contacted out of the blue by Johnson who offered to help reduce the business’ utility bills - which she did.

Within two years Johnson had introduced her friend, Farrar who offered to help with the payroll and accounts.

Neither of them had any formal qualifications in the work they were offering and in time a suspicious site manager raised the alarm.

It was discovered that £256,000 had been transferred from the business account into Farrar’s own bank account and Johnson banked cheques to the value of £65,951. While some of it was used to pay staff wages and company bills, it was established that Farrar stole £51,548, laundered £84,131 and that Johnson stole £150,062.

Both denied the allegations with Farrar claiming she only took what she was entitled to and was guided by Johnson.

Johnson claimed she took the money for services rendered, but admitted she sometimes took more than she was entitled to and gave herself extra in the form of a bonus.

Although both submitted extortionate invoices for their services that did not reflect the work carried out, a significant proportion of the money taken from the business remains unaccounted for.

Financial investigator, Detective Constable Mark Butcher of North Yorkshire Police’s Economic Crime Unit led the investigation.

He said: “Farrar and Johnson preyed on a vulnerable victim in the late Fiona Rhodes, taking advantage of her inability to run her business without assistance.

"They betrayed her trust through dishonest and deliberate money transfers from the business to their own bank accounts, in order to fund their own lifestyles with the majority of the money being gambled away through Hill’s online gambling addiction.

“The success of this prosecution is as a result of a two-year investigation brought about by the honesty and integrity of the park manager who first noticed the anomalies and reported the matter to Fiona’s accountants.

"With their careful analysis of the bank accounts, the true extent of the offending was identified.

“I hope today’s outcome provides some comfort to Fiona’s family and friends and sends a message to anyone who believes they will get away with betraying the trust of anyone, particularly a vulnerable person who needs help.”