Husband and wife Mark Rowe and Nicola Rowe, both 54, of Los Blanquitos in Tenerife, were charged for their part in a timeshare investment fraud operation after a six-year investigation by the South West Regional Organised Crime Unit and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

Nicola Rowe, who was finance director of the company, Sell My Timeshare, was sentenced at Southwark Crown Court on Friday for transferring criminal property.

At the sentencing, Nicola Rowe was not initially present in the court room, instead choosing to appear via video link from another room in the building, her defence said this was due to mental health concerns arising from the trial.

Rowe was present at deliberation, where she appeared before a packed courtroom containing a handful of the defrauded customers.

Judge Alexander Milne KC found that Rowe had ‘played a limited role in the business,’ and handed the 54-year-old a two-year suspended sentence.

Judge Milne said: ‘I accept in your case that there is true remorse’, adding that he took ‘full account of everything that has been said on your behalf,’ referring to character testimonies and medical examinations given to the court.

However, he stated that Rowe knew the money her husband’s company had taken from investors was from the proceeds of crime, stating that he had ‘no doubt’ Rowe had ‘lived very well on the strength of that’.

Her defence told the judge: ‘Although she is named as finance director, it was a title alone, a title that flattered her, she was never qualified.’

Rowe was also disqualified as a director for seven years. The judge said this was being used as a ‘protective measure for the public’ and that it ‘might also be a protective measure for Mrs Rowe.’

Stating that Mr Rowe was a ‘manipulative man,’ and that Mrs Rowe had been previously ‘enthralled to him,’ the judge said the measure was to protect Nicola Rowe from her husband.

Her husband Mark Rowe had been sentenced to seven and a half years in prison in January at the same court for conspiracy to defraud, he was also given a five-year director ban.

The timeshare fraud had played out over four years in the mid 2010s, luring people to invest in worthless vouchers in exchange for giving up ownership of timeshares.

Nicola Rowe did not take part in the selling of the credits, however, she was involved with the business’ finances including being a signatory on various business accounts. The company ran a sales operation online and in person, in the UK and in Spain.

After the scheme had made £28m, the couple banked £8m into their personal accounts.

The couple had spent £2.4m on a Hampshire mansion complete with stables, over £110,000 on private school fees and £185,000 at art galleries, spending £31,500 on a pencil sketch by famed artist LS Lowry, according to the CPS.

Two other individuals were sentenced in the same trial for their part in the selling of monster credits.

Husband and wife Josephine Cuthill Fox, 60, and Barrie Fox, 69, both from Worcester, were sentenced for fraud by false representation each receiving a two-year suspended sentence at the same court.

The judge referred to the ill health of the couple before handing out the suspended sentences.

The husband-and-wife team were ‘senior client advisors’ for the company, selling the monster credits hundreds of times to customers in exchange for hundreds of thousands of pounds.

The court heard how the pair had made over £518,000 for the company by selling the worthless credits.

In court Mr Fox's defence told the judge that he 'blames himself for his wife's predicament'.

The SWROCU said that a full confiscation investigation is underway, and all available assets owned by the total have been restrained and 11 confiscation orders have been applied for.

In total, 14 people have been convicted of defrauding thousands of victims in this timeshare scam.