A north-east man who was defrauded out of £50,000 by his ex-partner now faces losing his home.
Allan Bartlet had no idea Pamela Milne was taking out loan after loan online, claiming to be him.
But a year later, when he was bombarded with final notice letters and payment demands, he discovered the woman he had trusted for years had betrayed him.
In November, Milne was jailed for 14 months after she admitted pretending to be her partner to fraudulently obtain £49,941.
Today, Mr Bartlet – who has received no compensation – is still trying to pick up the pieces, after her deceit left him with a huge black mark on his credit history.
But now the 44-year-old and his new partner, Wendy Anderson, face being evicted from their home in Ellon as they cannot secure a mortgage.
And the painter and decorator is only just learning to trust again after counselling.
Last night he told the Press and Journal he felt there was no support for victims of crimes like Milne’s, having been left to try to clear his credit history himself.
He said: “This has had a huge effect on me. Our lease is due up this month and we promised our landlady we would buy the house. Little did we know Pamela’s crimes would leave me blacklisted and I can’t get a mortgage.
“We thought after she admitted everything it would be easy to clear the debts. Some of the loans have been paid back and we managed to clear the Co-op one by sending them a copy of your newspaper. But TSB and Lloyds still won’t clear the £14,000 she owes, despite it being her debt in my name.”
Milne started her credit spree in January 2010 when she secured a loan for £8,000 from the Co-operative Bank into a false joint account.
The 35-year-old’s debts subsequently spiralled out of control and Mr Bartlett continued his life with her at their home, unaware of the damage she was doing to his credit score.
In November 2011, the extent of the borrowing scam was revealed when Mr Bartlett received a phone call from Link Loans asking how he aimed to repay the debt.
He then ended their relationship and informed police of the scheme.
Mr Bartlet said he did not understand why the debt was not automatically transferred to Milne following her conviction. And he also criticised the authorities for not providing any information to help him sort out his finances.
He said: “We’ve contacted solicitors and had them write letters on our behalf but nothing has made a difference. We have also contacted the procurator fiscal service and the police but no one could help.”
Mr Bartlet said that shortly after he discovered the loans had been taken out in his name he started receiving letters threatening to recover his property.
He said: “I felt helpless and that there was nothing I could do to protect myself. It was also so unfair as none of this had been brought on by myself.”
His new partner, Ms Anderson, has been a huge support to him during the last few years.
The pair, who both work in Aberdeen, are hopeful that in time, the last remaining loans will be defaulted and their currently land lady will give them some extra time to purchase the house they love in Ellon.
But Ms Anderson said she still can’t understand how someone could put him through the hardship Milne did.
She said: “Allan is one of the kindest men I know. He would give you his very last penny. If she needed the money and asked him for it he would have given her the cash.”
Mr Bartlet said the hardest thing about being defrauded was learning to trust someone again.
He said: “She didn’t live a lavish lifestyle. I had no idea what was going on. We didn’t go on fancy holidays or buy nice cars so it was a total shock to me when I found out.
“The hardest thing has been having to deal with the betrayal. I completely trusted her and it has taken me all this time to learn to trust someone again.”
Last night a spokeswoman from TSB said: “We’re sorry to hear that Mr Bartlett was a victim of fraud. We take all allegations of fraud very seriously and have a number of steps
in place to protect our customers. We would welcome the opportunity to look into Mr Bartlett’s case and see if we can help.”
