THREE people will be sentenced at Exeter Crown Court later this month for their roles in an insurance scam totalling more than Pounds 200, 000.
Linda Drake, 45, a former employee at Norwich Union in Exeter, and husband Alan, 41, will appear before Judge Philip Wassall on Thursday, June 17.
The court listings office also confirmed that co-defendant Nicola Curry, also known by the surname Pughe, would be sentenced on that date. Judge Wassall is currently maintaining a ban on identifying the defendants' addresses.
The Drakes made a dramatic last-minute bid to avoid prison while awaiting sentencing in April. The Echo reported how, minutes before Judge Wassall was due to give his sentencing speech, the couple announced that they wanted to challenge the basis on which they were being sentenced and queried the amount they had stolen.
Linda Drake, who was a claims handler at the company in Pynes Hill, has pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to defraud and one of fraud involving abuse by position. Her husband, a builder who has previously helped to build Exeter Crown Court's roof, has admitted a charge of conspiracy to defraud and one of concealing criminal property.
Pughe, 43, who also worked for the company, has admitted two offences of conspiracy to defraud.
Linda Drake's daughter Claire Williams, now 24, has pleaded guilty to one charge of concealing criminal property, as a minor player in the scam, and has already been sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for two years.
The court has heard the Drakes' involvement was around Pounds 207, 000 and Nicola Pughe's was around Pounds 24, 000 but an exact total for the entire scam has not been established.
The crimes were between February and August 2007.
Mrs Drake and Pughe used their roles at the firm to make payments into the bank accounts of the Drakes, Williams, Pughe and two other people against whom the court has formally offered no evidence. Some covered genuine building repairs for policyholders, but others were overpayments or for fictitious work.
It is Pughe's case that Linda Drake told her to use Alan Drake for building jobs for policyholders and she thought the payments were for genuine work, although she knew it was against company rules.
Pughe told the court that she then launched her own solo scam, making false payments into the accounts of the two people against whom who the prosecution has offered no evidence.
All three defendants are on bail.