Dana Twidale: Wedding plan fraudster ordered to pay back victims

Wedding planner Dana Twidale jetted off to Spain when her illegal endeavours were uncovered

A wedding planner who conned would-be brides and grooms out of thousands of pounds has been ordered to pay back just £600.

Dana Twidale, from Hull, fleeced £15,000 from 24 couples between 2017 and 2019, as well as more than £42,000 from a man she met on a dating app.

She was jailed for five years in July.

A Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) hearing at Hull Crown Court heard the 44-year-old had benefited by more than £60,000 from her scams.

However, Judge Mark Bury was told she only had £600 in her bank account, which was a "small sum of money for the victims".

In court, prosecutor Dale Brooks said: "If Dana acquires more wealth in the future then it should go towards the victims."

Judge Bury said the £600 had to be paid within the next 28 days, but some of the money was "already in the hands of those who need it".

The 44-year-old used the money she scammed to fund a gambling problem

During her sentencing, the judge described her as a "cold, malicious, calculating person who has no thoughts or feelings for other people planning what is the most significant day of their lives".

He heard how Twidale, who used the money to fund a gambling problem, fled to Spain after scamming the couples for services she did not deliver.

She also defrauded the man she met on Tinder, leaving him on the verge of bankruptcy, by lying about her mother's death and saying she was a victim of domestic violence.

Twidale conned couples as far afield as Harrogate, Doncaster, Bradford, Somerset and Essex, with some only discovering they had been fleeced the night before their weddings when orders did not materialise.