A ROGUE trader who swindled students out of £23,000 has been spared jail – sparking anger from her victims who may never get their money back.

Kay Turford had previously admitted 11 counts of unfair trading but says she is now on benefits and has no cash or assets to pay them back.

The 60-year-old of Crookbarrow Road, Norton, near Worcester admitted 11 counts of engaging, either knowingly or recklessly, in a commercial practice at her Elite Nail and Beauty Academy business in contravention of the requirements of professional diligence.

She did this by failing to register the students with the official specialist awarding body, the Vocational Training Charitable Trust, known as VTCT.

Each count refers to a different student and offences all took place between the autumn of 2014 and November 2015. Turford also asked for five other, similar matters to be taken into consideration.

In total Turford took £22,812 from the students (£13,675 from the 11 students and £9,137 in relation to the similar matters).

Turford was a sole trader for Elite Nail and Beauty Academy at 58 Lowesmoor in Worcester although some of the students also made payments to the KI Beauty Salon in Worcester.

On September 30, 2013 Turford was approved as a training centre able to offer NVQ courses up to level two.

However she failed to register students despite taking their money for the course which was supposed to include the registration fee. This meant the students could not receive certificates despite completing their courses and therefore could not obtain insurance for the purposes of employment in the industry.

She was suspended by the VTCT on February 13, 2015 and prohibited from registering any more students because she had failed to pay the body the registration fees.

David Munro, prosecuting on behalf of Worcestershire County Council as a trading standards matter, said: “The studies they undertook were in vain and the qualification is worthless without the certificate.”

The 11 students identified had paid between £500 and £2,500 each for the courses.

Mr Munro said enquiries had yet to established who owned KI Beauty but the business was linked to the defendant.

Turford also claimed Elite was taken over by the Weston Spencer Group in 2015, a company the court was told had since gone into liquidation. She claimed she mistakenly thought it was Weston’s responsibility to register students.

However, judge Nicholas Cole said there was no evidence such a takeover had ever taken place.

Mr Munro said when students confronted Turford they were simply ‘fobbed off’.

One asked for a refund and was ‘ignored’ and for her portfolio to be returned which was refused. Some students took out loans to pay for the course.

Clare Fear, defending, said Turford was a woman of previous good character. She stressed Turford did not set up the enterprise with the intention of relieving the students of their money and that her actions were reckless rather than dishonest, believing matters would ‘right themselves’.

Miss Fear also referred to the collapse of the defendant’s 35 year marriage at this time and her need to care for her 83-year-old mother.

Judge Nicholas Cole said he could not compensate the victims until further investigations had been carried out.

He added: “It seems possible and indeed likely that those who suffered financial loss will not receive any recompense from you.”

Judge Cole sentenced her to 12 months in prison, concurrent on all 11 counts but suspended the sentence for two years.

Turford must carry out 120 hours of unpaid work.

Speaking after the hearing Rebecca Neale, 34, of Worcester, who paid £2,500 to Turford completed a 20 week course but received no certificate.

She said: “I feel she should have gone to prison. I’m angry. I did the course. I have three young children to support. Two years later I still don’t have a qualification and I don’t have £2,500 to pay again to obtain that qualification. I have lost income because I have not been able to do what I set out to do.”

Mother-of-one Michelle Pawley, aged 36, of Worcester who paid Turford £600 and has never received a certificate said: “I completed the course around my full-time job. I took time off work – 10 weeks – to be able to complete it. What has she done with the money people paid to her? Saying sorry doesn’t replace our loss. Sorry doesn’t help with the future and having to do the course again if I want to. If anything this has just put me off.”

Another victim, who declined to be named, said she was worried Turford would do the same thing again to other people.