Scheming sisters made chilling threats to 'finish' family business and hurt director's loved ones in £1.3m fraud

Two scheming sisters have been jailed for making chilling threats to 'finish' a family-run haulage business and hurt a director's loved ones during an audacious £1.2m fraud.

Joanne Palmer, 40, and her 38-year-old sibling Stephanie Palmer, from Stockport, targeted two English firms based 150 miles apart by bombarding unsuspecting staff members with phone calls. Now both are beginning jail sentences.

The Palmers first made cold calls to haulier SI & S Hastings, based near Penrith, Cumbria, making repeated offers to provide advertising which never materialised.

J oin our WhatsAp p Top Stories and Breaking News group by clicking this link .

Yet in follow-up calls, the fraudsters falsely claimed there had been oral consent and therefore a 'verbal contract'. Prosecutor Tim Evans told a court the sisters then 'smelled panic' and went 'into overdrive', making numerous daily calls to the secretary’s business and mobile phones, giving her 'no escape'.

"The calls threatened that bailiffs would be at her home within the hour if she did not make payments,” said the prosecutor. “They were abusive. They threatened to finish her business. There were some threats against family members. Due to the threats being made she was scared and convinced that the threats would be carried out, so began to make payments.”

The woman, he added, was 'embarrassed' when transferring the money, and “frightened for the safety of her family”.

Both Palmer sisters made calls, the court heard, and also persuaded the woman to hand over even more money having 'changed tack' by promising to help recover cash if she made more funds available.

She was initially reluctant to raise the alarm. But the sisters were caught red-handed after woman’s daughter