Taxi Driver Online

Daily Record

November 8, 2008, Saturday

A VICTIM of a bogus travel agent was forced to sell his house to repay friends caught up in the scam.

Wayne O'Ha ra booked thousands of pounds of holidays with Maureen Muir on behalf of his friends.

But the 41-year-old did not know that mother-of-two Muir was keeping the cash.

Taxi driver Wayne felt so guilty about the loss, he was forced to sell his house in Dundee to pay back the pounds 25,000 his friends were owed.

Yesterday, he said: "If it hadn't been for me, my pals wouldn't have got involved with Muir.

"It was only right and proper that I repaid my friends and relatives."

Muir, 41, was jailed for a year at Dundee Sheriff Court on Thursday, after she admitted that between July 1, 2005, and June 1, 2006, she formed a fraudulent scheme to obtain money for holidays.

The court heard how she conned pounds 34,000 out of her unsuspecting victims.

One of her biggest scams involved Wayne and 17 friends, who booked a weekend in Dublin in March 2006.

The day before they were due to leave, he had not received any travel and holiday documents and went to see Muir.

She asked Wayne to pay pounds 10,000 for the trip telling him he would be reimbursed on his return.

The trip went ahead, but Muir only repaid pounds 4580 and Wayne went to the police.
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