Earlier this year Frances Noble, 66, was jailed at St Albans Crown Court for four years and nine months for defrauding Hertfordshire County Council of £624,047.50 by pretending she was bedridden, unable to feed herself and needed 24-hour care. between January 15, 2007 and November 26, 2018. On Tuesday, Noble’s daughter Laura Borrell, 44, was jailed for three years and nine months and her son-in-law, Philip Borrell, 46, was jailed for four years and three months for money laundering offenses arising from the fraud. In 2017, the Borrells went on ITV’s This Morning, telling hosts Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby that Laura Borrell was one of the youngest people to have dementia. Judge Richard Foster told the couple they were “at times held up as carers when you clearly weren’t”. He noted that Laura Borrell, who has a serious neurological condition, had claimed state benefits to help with her own personal care needs, and so on that basis was “a person in need of care and unable to provide care”. The judge, who described their crimes as ‘sophisticated in nature’ and carried out over an extended period of time, told the pair: ‘There was evidence of an extravagant lifestyle. “You both enjoyed holiday trips to Boston, San Francisco as well as Canada between 2011 and 2017. You, Philip Borrell, had a good salary but this was subsidized by the use of this criminal money.” He worked as a software project manager but traveled frequently with his wife, the court heard. The judge told Philip Borrell that he chose to “disregard your suspicions as to the source of the money as that source was fraud on Hertfordshire County Council on a massive scale”. The court previously heard that since 2005, Noble received £702,905 from the council, but the offending she admitted only came to light in January 2007, so she was only charged for money she received during that later period. The prosecution said there were fake emails purporting to be written by carers she had hired to look after her at her home in Damask Green Road in Weston, near Hitchin. Care payments from the council were made directly into a bank account under Noble’s control. At an earlier hearing, Noble, of Rohrwallallee in Berlin, Germany, and Philip and Laura Borrell, of no fixed address, admitted one count of fraud. Noble admitted an additional charge of transferring criminal property of £130,649.46 and the Borrells admitted a joint charge of obtaining criminal property of £184,203.65. The pair also admitted a further count of obtaining criminal property, amounting to £39,700 for Laura Borrell and £6,218.92 for Philip Borrell. Noble is awaiting extradition from Germany to serve her sentence. The sentences handed down to the Borrells on Tuesday are concurrent on all charges.
