Couple jailed for lighthouse scam

Mrs Ford-Sagers "fell in love with a beautiful island", her lawyer said

A husband and wife have been jailed for stealing more than £100,000 to pay for their dream of owning and renovating a lighthouse on a remote Scottish island.

Brenda and Robert Ford-Sagers, both 60, were sentenced at Southampton Crown Court after admitting five charges.

The court heard the couple had set up a fake charity after falling behind with mortgage repayments on the lighthouse on the Hebridean island of Scalpay.

The Ford-Sagers were each jailed for three years.

Mrs Ford-Sagers' life is now in ruins and the words stamped all over her that she is a failure Charles Parry, lawyer

Between 1995 and 1997 Mr Ford-Sagers stole £82,545 and his wife £48,245 to help cover mortgage repayments on the Eilean Glas Lighthouse and fund a lifestyle beyond their means.

The couple used the cash to buy shares and premium bonds and pay public school fees for their son Theodore.

Mr Ford-Sagers also used £19,000 to buy a council house in Hayling Island, Hampshire, that belonged to his mother.

The house was then put in trust so that when it was sold after the death of Mrs Sagers, the £70,000 raised went to Theodore, now aged 14.

The couple bought their remote island getaway in 1984

They had bought their unusual Scottish getaway in 1984, but by the mid-1990s the cost of maintaining it had become so great that they fell behind on mortgage repayments.

In 1996 Mrs Ford-Sagers registered a charitable trust called the Friends of Eilean Glas Trust with the Charity Commission, using false names and forging her husband's signature.

She then asked her husband, a financial advisor, to siphon off clients' money into the fake trust.

His wife also pleaded guilty to the theft of £4,800 by selling a boat that she owned but had signed over to the Bank of Scotland.

Charles Parry, representing her, said: "Mrs Ford-Sagers fell in love with a beautiful island and a beautiful place.

"Her life is now in ruins, her dreams shattered and the words stamped all over her that she is a failure."

James Leonard, defending Mr Ford-Sagers, said his client's ill health, including quadruple heart by-pass surgery in 1996, had increased the strain he was under.

The couple, whose address is Kyles School House, Isle of Harris, but who gave a bail address of Denmead in Hampshire, were sentenced to three years in jail to run concurrently for each of five charges.

Mrs Ford-Sagers was also sentenced to one year to run concurrently for giving the Charity Commission false details.