£130k wedding scammer gets 2½ years in jail
‘Despicable’ conman duped brides
A HOTEL wedding planner who scammed £130,000 from dozens of couples was yesterday jailed for two-and-a-half years. Craig Williamson fled to Ibiza, telling colleagues at Guthrie Castle, Angus, he was visiting his father in Glasgow.
But in reality he was on the run, having blown the cash on gambling, spending up to £5,000 a day on his addiction. The castle’s multi-millionaire owner, American businessman Dan Pena, has spent £130,000 giving refunds and honouring bookings.
Dundee Sheriff Court heard bride Alice Cannon found her wedding – for which she had handed over nearly £19,000 to Williamson – was not on the books with castle staff a week before her big day. It went ahead after Mr Pena paid for it.
Megan McNamee found her wedding was triple booked, forcing her to reschedule, again with Mr Pena meeting the cost.
The mother of a third bride, Kayleigh Ferguson, handed over nearly £19,000 to Williamson for a wedding booked more than 18
‘Refused to answer’
months in advance. But again there was no record with the castle and he vanished with the money. Fortunately her wedding went ahead – again with the castle owner paying for it.
The court heard Williamson handed himself in to police in Dundee on May 8 after news of the fraud broke but refused to answer questions at interviews.
Williamson, 42, a prisoner at Perth, pleaded guilty to fraud committed between July 2015 and April 2017.
Sheriff Alastair Carmichael jailed him for 30 months, reduced from 45 months for his early guilty plea, for committing ‘a despicable crime’.