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We at the TCA are pleased to update you on the sentencing of Francis Madden.

Madden has been jailed for 40 months after conning innocent people into parting with thousands of pounds for holidays which were ‘virtually worthless’ in Portugal and Spain.

61-year-old Madden would get his employees to cold call daily, hundreds of vulnerable clients inviting them to a so-called ‘two-hour’ presentation for holiday club companies. The ‘two hours’ presentation turned into a grueling five hours of hard sell techniques during which loud music was constantly played.

It has since been revealed that clients were personally escorted to cash machines to hand over their money ‘there and then’.

Even though the victims were told they could of course later cancel their contracts during the cooling off period, when they attempted to do so they were told it was not possible.

A court heard the accommodation offered was ‘practically worthless’ as those who attempted to book breaks in Spain and Portugal discovered they were unable to do so or there was inadequate availability.

The consumers who endeavored to complain soon realized that the companies had changed addresses and their calls and emails went unanswered.

Madden, from Bournemouth, Dorset, pleaded guilty to three counts of fraudulent trading between May 2012 and February 2016. In jailing him at Bournemouth Crown Court a judge branded his conduct ‘reprehensible’. He also admitted a further charge of breaching a suspended sentence that has been made on him in 2012 at Southampton Crown Court.

On that occasion, he confessed to eight counts of unfair trading relating to a similar scam on people in the market for timeshares and holiday clubs in the Southampton area.

He gave a four-hour presentation to people who were told if they paid up to £2,000, they would get discounts on accommodation, flights, and cruises.

Bournemouth Crown Court was told that after that conviction Madden set up a series of businesses, ‘phoenix-like, one after the other’, although his victims had no idea the companies were run by the same man.

Garland, 29, from Wimborne, admitted two counts of failing to provide cancellation rights.

Neil Fitzgibbon, representing Garland, said she was ‘gullible’ and a ‘puppet’ to Madden.

Sentencing Madden, Judge Stephen Climie said: ‘His behavior was commercially inept, and on occasion morally irresponsible, if not reprehensible. He was prepared to put people at risk.’

Keith Furneval, 47, from Bournemouth, who was charged with fraudulent trading, and Madden’s wife Jean Furneval, 60, who was charged with money laundering, were formally found not guilty after prosecutors offered no evidence against them.

The judge also sentenced Garland to a 12-month conditional discharge after hearing Madden’s offending has left her mired in debt.

 

 

 

 

For more information regarding this article or assistance in any other timeshare related issues please contact the TCA on 01908 881058 or email: info@TimeshareConsumerAssociation.org.uk