She needed the dough — but didn’t knead the dough.
A British baker who reheated store-bought bread on a radiator and passed it off as freshly baked, was sentenced to more than two years behind bars for defrauding investors, according to a report.
Francesca Barker-Mills learned her fate Thursday after admitting she pocketed the money she duped investors into giving to her bakery, according to the Lancashire News.
Barker-Mills launched the Barker Baker in 2015 after avoiding jail for previous fraud convictions. She told friends and investors she was turning her life around after having “fallen in love with baking on a probation course,” and advertised that her bakery was a social enterprise that proved ex-cons could contribute to their community.
In reality, the bakery and its reheated bread were a way to con people out of tens of thousands of dollars, the court found.
Barker-Mills told lenders that she was involved in a program where new investors could double their money because the government was matching their funds.
When the initial dividends never arrived, she doubled down on the scheme, telling them she needed larger investments to see the returns she promised, and sending them screenshots of a fake checking account flush with cash as proof she could deliver, the paper said.
From there, the lies only intensified. Barker-Mills claimed she earned well-paying contracts to star in a BBC documentary, teach children how to bake and had partnered with Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream, the Lancashire News reported.
Eventually, Barker-Mills refused to answer her investors’ calls, and they reported her to the police.
When all was said and done, Barker-Mills defrauded four people out of around $80,000 — including her landlord and her baker’s assistant, who attempted suicide in the fallout.
“It took me a year to clear the debt I had which was difficult because I am a low-wage earner. It made me feel suicidal… I took an overdose as a result,” said the victim in court after being taken for nearly $10,000 by his boss.
“I had anxiety issues before this, but now they have soared and affect me in my day to day life.”
After pleading guilty to four counts of fraud, Judge Sophie McKone told Barker-Mills: “You are a thoroughly dishonest woman who made up a scheme to defraud people,” according to the Lancashire News.
“Cynically, you portrayed yourself as someone who had turned their life around — that was your unique selling point to entice people into investing in your business, saying you were an honest baker but you were actually far from it.”
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