A heartless fraudster who conned families for a non-existent trip to Blair Drummond Safari Park has been ordered to pay her victims £550.
Laura Watson, 29, peddled tickets for a holiday club offering bus excursions to the popular attraction near Stirling.
She charged £10 per adult and £5 for a child but families were left devastated when they turned up to a car park in Hamilton, Lanarkshire, and discovered they had been ripped off.
Watson booked two coaches but did not hand over a penny to the company leaving many children distraught and their parents livid.
Around 140 people from 28 families booked for the trip which was due to take place the day after schools had closed for the summer holidays.
Furious parents took to social media to complain before Watson was found in her home where she broke down in tears as she was arrested.
Safari park bosses later offered free tickets to victims of the cruel swindle.
Watson, of Lanark, appeared at Hamilton Sheriff Court and admitted obtaining £550 by fraud between April and June 2019.
Sheriff Louise Gallacher ordered her to pay compensation to the families she conned at the rate of £50 a month.
She was also ordered to be of good behaviour for the next six months.
A court heard Watson had racked up 'significant' debts on Sky subscriptions and mobile phone contracts and decided to launch the fraudulent scheme.
Depute fiscal Clare Green had earlier told the court: "In June 2019, police received numerous reports of a fraudulent incident after two coaches had turned up to take families to a trip to Blair Drummond Safari Park.
"This was organised on Facebook through the Hamilton Holiday Club and the accused was responsible for organising this trip for which she had been paid £550.
"She had organised the two coaches but had not paid the driver and police were asked and they then made efforts to trace the accused.
"It was noted there were a total of 28 complainers in respect of this matter and none were able to complete their journey to the safari park.
"Police thereafter traced the accused who was distressed and crying before stating 'I didn't mean it' before placing her head in her hands."
After the fraud was discovered, dozens of victims took to social media to slam Watson for her actions.
Liz Keenan, who booked on the fake trip, said: "The kids have been let down. Some of them sat in the car park crying after they were taken off the bus to come home.
"There were 19 of us going but there were families of seven and other large groups.
"To think that something like this could happen to children is horrible. It's the start of their summer holidays and they've been hit with this. It's such a shame."
Another mum added: "Telling the children that they weren't getting their trip was awful.
"We spent money on packed lunches and everyone was really looking forward to seeing the animals."
John McGeechan, defending, said: "She found herself in significant debts of thousands of pounds because of her former partner for
Sky subscriptions and mobile phone contracts.
"She formulated this plan to get some money and it was obviously always going to be uncovered.
"This would have been upsetting and distressing for the families involved who thought they were going to the safari park and she feels bad about it."
Sheriff Gallacher said: "Given the situation you found yourself in and the significant mitigation put forward, I will limit the sentencing of this case to imposing a compensation order for the sum of £550 which will be distributed between the persons who had paid their money and have not been recompensed before now."
Watson was originally charged with taking £774.50 but prosecutors accepted her guilty plea to the lesser amount.
Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - Sign up to our daily newsletter here .
