Annabel Walker: Socialite from Southern Highlands jailed for fraud
She’s the young socialite used to the finer things in life. But 32-year-old Annabel ‘Belle’ Walker will have to get used to more humble surrounds after being jailed for a series of fraud offences. In emotional scenes in court she wept and gestured towards her parents as she was led down to the cells.
Macarthur
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A young socialite who stole tens of thousands of dollars from a string of unsuspecting victims before splashing out on swanky restaurants and luxury hotel stays has been jailed.
Annabel Walker, 32, from Bowral, wept and said “I love you mum” as she was handcuffed by correction services officers.
Known to her friends as Belle, she was supported by her parents at the Downing Centre Court on Wednesday.
Wearing all black with new glasses, Walker was self-represented after admitting to a “conflict” with her lawyer the night before her sentence. Instead of an adjournment she said she couldn’t afford another lawyer and didn’t want to “waste any more time.”
Walker has pleaded guilty to a raft of charges including multiple counts of dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception relating to when she was an administrative assistant for Aust. Leisure Group.
While working at the company and living the high life in Sydney’s eastern suburbs she swindled $17,198.62 between February and May last year using her boss Jason Hugh Clarke’s credit card.
“Those are matters I place on the higher end of dishonesty,” Magistrate Susan McIntyre told the court.
Walker, who is an alumni of the prestigious Frensham school, also stole $4,000 from her landlord and other businesses including $2,816 from painting consultancy Steady Hand Studio and $3361.60 from Fire Fly Lighting.
In court Walker read out a letter saying she was constantly in an “irrational” state of mind and acted on “pure adrenaline” describing it as an “out of body experience.”
She further claimed she was “mentally unwell” and said she was sorry for her actions and lost a lot of friends in the past few months.
Walker pleaded for the magistrate to consider an intensive correction order (ICO) and said she would repay all the victims she owed.
Yet magistrate Susan McIntyre said she had a “great deal” of dishonesty matters which showed her “flagrant breach of trust.”
The magistrate described the offences as a “real tangled web of deceit” saying she used the funds to buy clothes and dine at expensive restaurants including Rae’s in Byron Bay with her then boyfriend.
The court heard she was also to be re-sentenced after breaching two Community Corrections Orders (CCO). The CCO’s related to her advertising an Apple iPhone online for $550 and kept the money despite never delivering the phone and stayed at a luxury rental over Christmas 2018 without paying the $7200 owed.
The magistrate slammed her saying she continued to commit a “flurry” of offences while given the “benefit of a CCO.”
Walker was also hit with three fresh charges last month after sending police “false documents” of her checking into South Coast Private Hospital for mental health treatment to explain why she couldn’t report on two occasions.
Magistrate McIntyre described the offences as the “most serious kind” which represented a “fundamental disregard” for court orders.
In court today Walker pleaded guilty to the new charges including two counts of using a fake document to influence her exercise of public duty.
One of her victims Steady Hand Studio business owner Lance Corlett previously told NewsCorp Walker didn’t pay him for a painting job last year.
“It’s pretty shocking,” Mr Corlett said.
“Basically being a small business it’s just trust. We take on a job and they (the customer) say they will pay you. For low-cost jobs you don’t take a deposit,” he said.
Another Sydney business, who asked not to be named, said Walker had called them up claiming she was new in town and wanted to buy a six-seat dining set and bedroom furniture.
After placing the order she said her company would pay for it and forwarded bank receipt.
“She forwarded a bank receipt...which she photoshopped but the payment obviously never came through,” the business manager told NewsCorp.
“We ended up still sending the item and when we chased the payment, she still managed to reply most of the time with multiple excuses.”
When he told her they would pick up the furniture if she didn’t pay them back, Walker paid for the items but the manager said they later found out she had used another man’s credit card.
“We later found out, it (the card) was owned by a gentleman. He reached out and that’s when we knew for sure we just got scammed.”
“The bank ended up taking the money back as the owner of the card, disputed the transaction. We lost $2,848.67 AUD and she stopped replying.”
Walker who has also pleaded guilty to drink driving and driving when disqualified was sentenced to a total of 18 months in jail for all her offences with a 12-month non parole period.