Rochdale, in 2015. The new business venture was built on the pretence that Barker-Mills was turning her life around, having ‘fallen in love with baking on a probation course’ after she narrowly escaped jail in 2013 due to a litany of fraud convictions.Barker-Mills told friends and even advertised in local newspapers that her bakery was a social enterprise - showing people that ex-offenders could contribute to their community in earnest.But in fact, Barker-Mills used the bakery to convince potential investors, her landlord, and even her ‘friends’, into sinking thousands of their hard-earned cash into a government scheme - which she had invented.Barker-Mills has now been jailed for two years and three months after pleading guilty to four.
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