Emma Bamber: Horse trader avoids jail after delay in case
The judge said the delay in concluding the case justified suspending the sentence for two years. She said the offending was "a reasonably large scale operation" with the eight victims spread across the UK.Judge Bagnall said that in June 2018, police in the Limavady area of County Londonderry started receiving complaints naming an Emma Bamber from Glendra Sports Horses based in nearby Feeny as having committed numerous alleged fraud offences."Over the following weeks and months numerous complaints were made against the defendant," said the judge and the court heard that due too the size of the investigation and because "the victims of this offending are situated all over the British Isles, the investigation was dealt with by CID," Judge Bagnall said.While the financial impact of each individual sale was not that significant, the impact on the victims was more than financial, the judge added."Some of the horses were being bought for novice riders and were clearly inappropriate for that role," said Judge Bagnall, adding that "it is fortunate that no one had been badly hurt through the actions of the defendant".
The court was told the particulars of the offending revealed Bamber told one a victim a horse was "suitable for her grandchildren" when, in fact it, was an ex-racehorse.She also claimed a horse she sold was an Irish sports horse when it was not.On another occasion, Bamber claimed an animal called Bridie had "a full set of x-rays and five stage vetting" when it did not, and further claimed that Bridie was "an 'extremely talented show jumping horse and sound in all ways", when, in fact, it was not.Bamber also took deposits for horses she did not have and did not transport.
Passing sentence, Judge Bagnall said it was clear that despite her claims that she was repeating information her bosses had told her, Bamber had not only "held herself out as knowing about horses, but also told lies after lies to clients in order to sell what were completely inappropriate horses to a susceptible purchasers"."This further reinforces my view that the defendant knew that what she was doing was misleading clients in order for them to purchase horses which were not as described, and further that at times were not being delivered after sale," said the judge.
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