Mum who conned family out of £35,000 by claiming her daughter was an upcoming Hollywood star tagged

A mum who conned her family in a £35,000 bogus Hollywood actress fraud has been tagged for ten months.

Ann Dunlop, 69, claimed her daughter Heather Dunlop, 40, was being lined up for million pound contracts.

Dunlop convinced her brother, 52, to hand Heather cash to help her make the breakthrough.

She stated that Heather was mingling with A-listers such as Leonardo Di Caprio and Beyonce as well as being managed by US entertainment executive Irving Azoff.

Dunlop also induced her sister and her husband with the string of lies.

Her brother-in-law believed that Dunlop and Heather had “champagne on tap” at the plush London home they shared.

He stated that he believed Dunlop and her family were “like the Waltons” but ended up “like the Dingles.”

He stated Heather’s acting career was a “best kept secret” and compared it to the nuclear codes at Faslane.

Dunlop later requested her brother-in-law and sister to pay her and Heather’s gas and council tax bills as she did not have enough money.

Dunlop was found guilty last year to defrauding her family a total of £35,368 at Glasgow Sheriff Court.

Heather was jailed last week for eight months after she pled guilty to a similar charge.

Sheriff Vincent Lunny also told the hearing that Dunlop, of Margate, Kent, should find a Scottish address to be given a tag or she faced a similar fate to her daughter.

Dunlop’s lawyer Neil Stewart told Wednesday’s sentencing that she will stay with her mother.

Sheriff Lunny put Dunlop on a restriction of liberty order which is an “alternative to custody.”

He said: “The stress to your family was significant but I can take a step back, only just, from custody.

“I appreciate that being told money was available [to pay their victims back] did not come from you and it does distinguish you to some extent.

“Your evidence at trial was not believed at all and your appeal was unsuccessful.”

The court heard during the trial that Heather – who used the name Heather Cameron – had appeared in a non-speaking role in a BBC period drama as well as a TV show staring comedian Noel Fielding.

Dunlop’s brother – a chief executive of a life science company – was approached by Dunlop and Heather in March 2016 after he sold his business.

He stated that he handed over £5,000 to the pair, formerly of Port Glasgow, Inverclyde, in order for the actress to “build her career.”

He told the court that he was informed by Dunlop that Heather was being represented by Hollywood mogul Irving Azoff.

He said: “There was talk about meeting Beyonce and Jay Z…movies with Quentin Tarantino and Michael Keaton.

“She went to the Oscars to make various connections.

“Azoff was her manager, she met Leonardo Di Caprio and she was working on promotional activity for Chanel which would go alongside her movies.”

The family were also told that Heather was set to star in a movie version of the musical Wicked directed by Tim Burton.

Dunlop’s brother said that he was unaware of the figure the woman was to receive but believed it was millions.

He handed over a further £27,000 to the pair as he heard that Dunlop and her husband who also lived with them were “struggling.”

He also footed a bill for their council tax and gas.

Prosecutor Redmond Harris asked about any repayment.

He said: “It was promised…this was made clear by phone calls and texts.”

Dunlop’s brother was not paid back and his suspicions rose after Heather failed to appear in a Chanel Christmas advert in 2016.

Fears further heightened after he hired a private investigator to keep tabs on Heather.

He said: “[We wanted] To establish if there was a relationship with Irving Azoff and if it was true that she was an actor and was there any basis to what we had been told in previous months.”

Mr Harris asked: “Following things with the private investigator, were your suspicions greater or unfounded?”

He said: “It confirmed what our fears were.”

He met Dunlop in a London pub in 2017 but did not receive a satisfactory answer as to why he had not been paid back.

Mr Harris asked: “What do you know about the woman’s acting career?”

He replied: “From internet searching, there was no career to my knowledge.”

Dunlop’s brother-in-law, 67, claimed he was under the impression Dunlop and Heather were living a “movie type of lifestyle in London.”

Her brother-in-law recalled visiting the pair at their Notting Hill home for Dunlop’s 60th birthday party.

He said: “I had never seen so many bottles of champagne…the champagne was on tap there.”

He stated that Heather shopped at Harrods and went to handbag stores in London.

The brother-in-law paid for Dunlop’s £600 gas bill in November 2016 before transferring £1,000 of his overdraft to her as “she said she didn’t have enough money.”

He claimed Dunlop told him that he would be repaid in two weeks.

He added: “The explanation was there was a large sum of money in Coutts Bank but it was put in an investment fund and it was not available immediately but it would be sorted out.”

Dunlop’s brother-in-law stated that he was later told by Dunlop that Tim Burton had collected Heather’s bank cards and put them in a safe.

Mr Harris asked about his relationship with his wife’s family before the bank transfers.

He said: “I thought I had married into the Waltons…I didn’t know I had actually married into the Dingles.”

He said Heather’s acting career was the “best kept secret than the nuclear codes at Faslane.”

Last week’s hearing was told that 10% of the cash has been paid back to the victims.