Husband and Wife to stand trial on embezzlement charge

A husband and wife have been accused of embezzling nearly £350,000 by conning punters into believing they had lost their money on a spread betting scheme.

Peter Plimley, 67, and his wife Wendy Plimley, 60, allegedly duped more than a dozen investors into thinking they had lost everything on a single massive bet.

The couple appeared at Perth Sheriff Court earlier and denied embezzling a total of £345,359 in cash by pretending they had lost it all in one spread bet.

They are charged with duping 13 named individuals out of an average of more than £26,000 each using an elaborate scam which lasted for two years.

The couple, formerly from Croftvale, Church Road, Kinfauns, Perthshire, are alleged to have conned punters who invested money in a spread betting project with them.

The Plimleys, now of Craigdhu Road, Newtonmore, deny that on various occasions between 1st December 2011 and 1st December 2013 they made arrangements to place other people's money on spread betting financial markets.

It is alleged that they set up an account with IG Index Ltd and formed contracts with their "victims" whereby they promised financial gains by speculating on markets.

They are alleged to have been entrusted with large sums of cash until finally pretending "all sums of money were lost in a single transaction". It is alleged they knew the claim was false and that they did it to appropriate the cash for their own use.

Fiscal depute John Malpass told the court: "Given the nature of the charge there is an extensive history in relation to these matters. There have been in excess of 14,000 pages of documents recovered.

"I understand the need for these to be examined and for instructions to be taken so I have no objection to the motion to adjourn."

Sheriff William Wood agreed to adjourn the case and the Plimleys are scheduled to go on trial in January next year.

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