Victim of serial fraudster Mark Acklom demands £750k back from bank he used

Published

2 years ago

September 17, 2023

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A woman left penniless by notorious conman Mark Acklom is demanding her stolen money back from the High Street bank he used to fleece her.

During the police investigation, detectives arrested a Barclays bank employee and a former staff member on suspicion of a conspiracy. They had worked in the same department at Barclays.

The two – a man and a woman – were questioned and released on bail for many weeks, though they were later freed without charge.

Carolyn Woods was duped in a romance scam by serial fraudster Acklom, who wooed her and promised to marry her, telling her he was a wealthy Swiss banker called Mark Conway and a secret MI6 agent.

He was jailed four years ago and is now free, but she’s not got back any of the £750,000 she lost.

Ms Woods said: “I put my faith in the criminal justice system, but it has failed me. It just works in favour of the criminal and really doesn’t give much consideration to the victim at all.

“Acklom’s out now, no doubt living well and up to his old tricks and I’m struggling to survive. I should have explored what happened at the bank at the time, but the police advised me not to. They said it was all in their system.”

Acklom isolated Ms Woods from family and friends, then advised her to set up a new bank account with Barclays.

Citing a cash flow problem, he encouraged her to transfer money she thought were loans for building work on a plush home he had bought them.

Within a couple of months in 2012, under Acklom’s coercive control, she transferred all the money in big, sometimes daily, payments of up to £30,000 into the personal account of one of Acklom’s associates.

‘A haemorrhage of money’

Ms Woods believes the bank owed her a duty of care and should have questioned her actions and investigated the payments.

She said: “Looking back now over my bank statements, there was a total haemorrhage of money out of my account, hundreds of thousands of pounds in a matter of a few weeks, all going into one particular account.

“You would think some red flag should have been raised somewhere, I would have expected the bank to contact me.

“If they had shown some interest in me as a client, then perhaps this might not have happened. I mean, I do take responsibility myself, for part of it.”

“But I think one of the very good things that’s happened since I highlighted this sort of coercive control and wrote about it is that people are much, much more aware,” she continued.

“I was very much regarded as just a silly woman at the time. I think things have moved on a lot since then and there’s a lot more understanding about that.”

Soon after she had stopped making transfers, Ms Woods discovered some payments had been made without her authorisation.

When she queried them, she said the bank told her it couldn’t explain the missing funds but the money was paid back into her account.

Barclays then closed her account and wouldn’t say why.

Broke, homeless and suicidal

It was a year before Ms Woods realised she had been lied to and defrauded by Acklom, leaving her broke, homeless and suicidal.

She discovered Acklom’s long history of fraud and was told that far from being a rich bachelor flying in to see her from Switzerland, he had been living nearby with his wife and two young daughters.

By that time Acklom had fled abroad.

After a slow and shoddy start to an investigation, for which they later apologised, Avon and Somerset police arrested the former Barclays employee into whose account Acklom had insisted the money be paid.

He told police that he, too, had been under Acklom’s coercive control, had acted under threat and later became a potential prosecution witness.

The man told me recently: “This is a part of my life I never want to revisit, never want to talk about, never ever want to go back to. Because it was a living hell and a living nightmare for me.

“I’ve worked so hard to rebuild my mental state. I was in such a manipulative position where I could not move, could not see, could not eat, could not drink, could not do a damn thing, unless I was authorised.”

Detectives also arrested a woman who was still working for the bank and whose account had held some of the money at some stage.

When Sky News called at her home this week to try to ask her about her alleged involvement, a young man threatened to call the police. The woman appears to have since deleted her LinkedIn business profile.

During the police investigation, both suspects were questioned and bailed but later released without charge.

In a letter to Barclays Ms Woods, 62, wrote: “I realise that banking safeguards have improved since 2012/13, but some recent events have led me to believe that I wasted my time going after Mark Acklom and his accomplices through the so-called criminal justice system, and that Barclays Bank should have been held equally accountable for my losses – something I thought would follow on naturally once the case came to trial.

“There is absolutely no doubt that this crime was enabled with the help of a bank ‘insider’.”

‘There’s a strong moral argument for Barclays to pay up’

Lawyer Arun Chauhan, who sits on the Fraud Advisory Panel, a charitable body which advises the public on dealing with fraud, said Barclays had no legal obligation to refund Ms Woods anything, but there was a strong moral argument to do so.

He said: “I think Barclays need to look at it and say, ‘well if we, for example, find that our employees were involved to quite a degree and they used their internal information knowledge about how we operate to facilitate and assist the fraud,’ I think they need to stand back and ask themselves ‘should we bear any responsibility morally for this?’

“And that might well lead to them saying they should offer a goodwill payment, but they won’t make any admission of liability.

“If the events of the story took place today, I think the landscape would be very different.

“The banks are very conscious about coercive control, romance fraud, situations where people are being manipulated into making transactions, not just being tricked with false account details, but being manipulated.

“There are guidance standards about customer vulnerability, looking out for vulnerable customers.

“I think there would have been a much greater prospect of a recovery (of the stolen money) if those events happened today. And that’s really unfortunate.”

Barclays has told Ms Woods it was investigating her claim.

A spokesman told Sky News: “For confidentiality reasons we cannot comment on individual customer affairs.”

Mark Acklom, now aged 50, was jailed for five years and eight months in 2019 after pleading guilty to five of the 20 fraud charges he faced, effectively admitting he stole around £300,000 from Ms Woods.

The judge who sentenced him told Ms Woods it was “pretty unlikely” she would get any money back from Acklom.

He was freed after serving little more than two years and should have spent many more months living under licence in the UK with restrictions on his freedom and regular contact with probation officers.

But almost immediately the fraudster was extradited to Spain to complete a prison sentence he had fled from there.

The extradition judge said his UK licence period could be served concurrently with his Spanish sentence.

In agreeing to be extradited, Acklom also avoided the rare imposition of a five-year serious crime prevention order, which would have placed severe restrictions on his freedom.

The extradition judge told him there was no expectation of him returning to Britain.

Acklom was freed in Spain in May, earlier than expected. His whereabouts are unknown.

UK

Author Dame Jilly Cooper has died

Published

3 hours ago

October 6, 2025

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Author Dame Jilly Cooper has died, her publisher has said.

“It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Dame Jilly Cooper, DBE who died on Sunday morning, after a fall, at the age of 88,” a statement said.

The Queen paid tribute to Dame Jilly, calling her a “legend” who was a “wonderfully witty and compassionate friend”.

The best-selling author was renowned for her raunchy, so-called “bonkbuster” novels, which portrayed the scandals and sex lives of wealthy country social circles, including Rivals, Riders and Polo.

She was praised for her blend of risqué storylines and critique of Britain’s class system, personified by showjumping lothario Rupert Campbell-Black.

Her children Felix and Emily said: “Mum was the shining light in all of our lives. Her love for all of her family and friends knew no bounds.

“Her unexpected death has come as a complete shock.

“We are so proud of everything she achieved in her life and can’t begin to imagine life without her infectious smile and laughter all around us.”

Dame Jilly was propelled to commercial success in the 1980s, and sold 11 million copies of her books during her more than fifty-year career.

Last year, Rivals was adapted into a successful TV series, which she worked on as an executive producer.

Tributes to author who created ‘a whole new genre’

Dame Jilly was a long-standing friend of the Queen.

In a statement released by Buckingham Palace, she said: “I was so saddened to learn of Dame Jilly’s death last night.

“Very few writers get to be a legend in their own lifetime but Jilly was one, creating a whole new genre of literature and making it her own through a career that spanned over five decades.

“In person she was a wonderfully witty and compassionate friend to me and so many – and it was a particular pleasure to see her just a few weeks ago at my Queen’s Reading Room Festival where she was, as ever, a star of the show.

“I join my husband the King in sending our thoughts and sympathies to all her family.

“And may her hereafter be filled with impossibly handsome men and devoted dogs.”

The author’s many fans included former prime minister Rishi Sunak, who said the books offered “escapism”.

‘Dame Jilly defined culture’

Her agent Felicity Blunt said: “The privilege of my career has been working with a woman who has defined culture, writing and conversation since she was first published over fifty years ago.”

She added: “You wouldn’t expect books categorised as bonkbusters to have so emphatically stood the test of time, but Jilly wrote with acuity and insight about all things – class, sex, marriage, rivalry, grief and fertility.”

The executive producers of the Disney+ adaptation, Rivals, said they are “broken-hearted” and “her legacy will endure”.

Dominic Treadwell-Collins and Alex Lamb added: “Jilly was and always will be one of the world’s greatest storytellers, and it has been the most incredible honour to have been able to work with her to adapt her incredible novels for television.”

As tributes rolled in on Monday, TV presenter Kirsty Allsopp wrote on X: “I know 88 is a good age, but this is very sad news.

“A British institution, funny, enthusiastic and self-deprecating, we don’t see enough of it these days.”

Her publisher Bill Scott-Kerr said: “Jilly may have worn her influence lightly, but she was a true trailblazer.

“As a journalist she went where others feared to tread, and as a novelist she did likewise.

“With a winning combination of glorious storytelling, wicked social commentary and deft, lacerating characterisation, she dissected the behaviour, bad mostly, of the English upper middle classes with the sharpest of scalpels.”

The ‘unholy terror’

Born in Essex in 1937, Jilly Cooper came from a Yorkshire family known for newspaper publishing and politics.

Her writing career began in 1956 as a junior reporter on the Middlesex Independent, covering everything from parties to football.

She had said she was known as the “unholy terror” at school, and was sacked from 22 jobs before finding her way into book publishing.

Dame Jilly started writing stories for women’s magazines in 1968, and found her break in 1969 when The Sunday Times published a story on being an ”undomesticated” homemaker. It gave rise to a column that lasted over 13 years.

In 2019 she won the inaugural Comedy Women in Print lifetime achievement award, and in 2024 was made a dame for her services to literature and charity.

UK

Security guard reveals new details of Manchester synagogue attack

Published

6 hours ago

October 6, 2025

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Security guard reveals new details of Manchester synagogue attack

A security guard who helped barricade the doors during the Manchester synagogue attack has told Sky News he thought “we are all going to die” – as he watched two of his friends get struck by what’s believed to be a police bullet.

Ivor Rosenberg was a working volunteer security guard on the morning Jihad al Shamie, 35, launched his attack on the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in Crumpsall.

He described first confronting al Shamie outside the synagogue some minutes earlier, thinking “he’s up to no good” – after he told different people conflicting stories about how he was looking for his car and a pub.

“He looked at me and said ‘what are you looking at?’,” Mr Rosenberg told Sky News.

“I just said, ‘I don’t know’… he said ‘you’re very brave inside the fence’… and he walked away.”

Mr Rosenberg said he started walking back up the stairs towards the synagogue when he heard “an almighty bang”.

“I turned around and I saw the car smashed into the wall of the gate,” he said.

He described Alan Levy, the synagogue chairman, managing to lock the main door as he ran straight to the office and dialled 999.

“I was screaming at them – ‘we’re under attack, we’re under attack!’,” he said.

“I could hear him banging on the doors, trying to get in – threatening to kill everyone.”

Mr Rosenberg said he looked out of the window and saw al Shamie banging on the synagogue door with a “large knife”.

“I was terrified,” he said.

After running to get chairs to put up against the synagogue door, he described holding the doors shut with a group of nine or 10 others from the synagogue.

It was then that he saw a bullet come through the door – hitting two of his friends.

After the police initially opened fire on al Shamie, Mr Rosenberg said he saw him trying to get up.

“I screamed – he’s getting up again,” he said.

“I stood back and we could hear a shot.

“Yoni – who was standing just a couple of feet away from me – dropped down to the ground.”

Yoni Finlay is currently recovering in hospital. He is one of two men that Greater Manchester Police believe they accidentally struck with gunfire while trying to shoot al Shamie.

The other is Adrian Daulby, 53, who died from his injuries.

Melvin Cravitz, 66, who was among those who helped to prevent al Shamie from entering the synagogue, also died.

Mr Rosenberg described seeing a “bullet hole” in the door – and believes the same bullet hit both Mr Finlay and Mr Daulby, who was also behind the door with him at the time.

He said at first he believed Mr Finlay, a friend of his for many years, was intentionally ducking to avoid the gunfire. He then quickly realised he had been injured.

“He said ‘I’ve been hit’. I think the bullet came through him and hit Mr Daulby. I thought ‘we’re all going to die’ for a minute. It was terrifying,” Mr Rosenberg said.

“I took my jacket off and cradled Yoni’s head. It was very, very scary.”

Mr Rosenberg said both of the men were “heroes” – and has had updates that Mr Finlay is continuing to recover in hospital.

Two other men also remain in hospital with serious injuries – a security guard with car-impact injuries and a community worker with stab wounds.

Mr Rosenberg said that he is still struggling to come to terms with what happened that day.

“I’m okay until someone asks me how I’m doing – then it’s hard,” he said.

Al Shamie was shot dead by police.

Four people arrested on suspicion of preparing terrorist acts remain in custody after police were granted a further five days to question them on Saturday.

UK

Former England rugby captain Lewis Moody reveals motor neurone disease diagnosis

Published

9 hours ago

October 6, 2025

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Former England rugby captain Lewis Moody reveals motor neurone disease diagnosis

England’s 2003 Rugby World Cup winner Lewis Moody has been diagnosed with motor neurone disease.

The 47-year-old former England captain said it had been “incredibly hard to process and a huge shock to me and my family”.

In a social media post, he wrote: “I’m writing to share some tough news. I have recently been diagnosed with ALS, also known as Motor Neurone Disease (MND).”

He said: “I feel fit and well in myself and I’m focused on staying positive, living life and dealing with the changes I will experience as they come.

“I am being well supported by my family, friends and medical professionals and I’m truly grateful to those who, in their time, helped progress research to support others, like me, living with this disease.

Since retiring from the sport in 2012, Moody and his wife, Annie, have dedicated much of their time to fundraising for The Lewis Moody Foundation, which supports those affected by brain tumours.

“My plan is to continue with this, but to also create an opportunity to support a charity closer to my current situation,” said Moody, who was awarded an MBE for services to rugby in 2004.

“I would be so grateful for your help with this and look forward to sharing more, once I am clear on what this looks like.”

Rugby players could be prone to motor neurone disease – but causes still unknown

Fellow rugby players Doddie Weir and Rob Burrow have died from the disease in recent years.

The sport – and in particular England skills coach Kevin Sinfield – have worked on high-profile fundraising campaigns to tackle it.

Athletes appear to be disproportionately likely to contract MND, which causes muscle weakness to the point it can eventually be hard to eat or breathe.

Research from Durham University found rugby players could be especially prone, as those who have suffered multiple concussions have higher levels of certain proteins in their blood that are linked to the disease.

But the exact cause of it remains unknown.

“For now, please know I feel your love and support,” Moody added.

“All I ask is that I am given some space to navigate this with my wife and sons, and those closest to us – but without doubt, I will continue to embrace life and grasp opportunities in the same way I always have.”

What is motor neurone disease?

Motor neurone disease (MND) causes muscle weakness that gets worse over the course of months or years.

It’s usually life-shortening and there’s currently no cure, but treatments have been developmed to help manage the symptoms.

Initial symptoms can be: stiff or weak hands, weak legs and feet and twitches, spasms or muscle cramps.

They can worsen into problems breathing, swallowing and speaking, changes to personality and mood and being unable to walk or move.

It affects around one in 300 people.

A handful of studies have shown a correlation between professional sports to MND, but do not prove a cause.

A ‘glittering career’

Moody won 71 caps for England and also five for the British and Irish Lions, and was a seven-time title winner with Leicester.

He is perhaps best known for winning the final lineout during the 2003 World Cup final, which led to Jonny Wilkinson’s historic match-winning drop goal.

Lions Rugby Chair Ieuan Evans MBE said: “We are all greatly saddened to hear the news of Lewis Moody’s diagnosis.”

He added: “As a player, Lewis inspired so many fans during a glittering career.”

Moody joined Leicester Tigers from Oakham School and made 223 appearances between 1996 and 2010.

The club said everyone there was “deeply saddened to learn that one of our greatest players” had been diagnosed with MND.

“The figures, trophies and awards tell you what an incredible player Lewis was, but that is only half the story,” said Tigers chief executive Andrea Pinchen.

“As an individual, his commitment to his club along with his warmth and passion shone through, which endeared him to teammates, staff and supporters alike.”