A pair of newlyweds whose rental deposit was raised by guests at their wedding have spoken of their feelings when they realised that the cash had been taken by their agent.

Helen Gregory, who owned three agencies in the Peaks, Dales and Chesterfield, went on to enjoy a posh new car rather than repay her victims.

She has now been jailed after swindling £67,000 from tenants and will serve four months behind bars.

She had admitted three charges of engaging in unfair commercial practices last August, but her sentencing was delayed following assurances that she would repay the money.

But she failed to do, despite £45,000 being paid to her by another business. Instead of paying her victims, she transferred the money into her partner’s account, paying for a £25,000 Jaguar.

Trading Standards started investigating Gregory in 2011 and she was arrested in December 2012.

Bride-to-be Hannah Owen had found her rental home through Gregory days before her wedding in December 2012, and handed over £950 a few days later.

The money was given by friends and family who went to the wedding.

She was alerted to problems by a local paper’s front page in 2012.

She said: “I phoned the DPS, who said there was no account registered for our property. This is when I began to fear the worst.

“I then contacted Trading Standards, who informed me of all the other suspected victims.”

Hannah said that at the time of signing up to the tenancy, she had been given what looked like a photocopied DPS brochure.

She and her husband still live in the same rental property. Their landlord has promised they will get their deposit back when they move out.

It was claimed by the prosecution that of 1,126 deposits received by Gregory, 796 had not been paid into the Deposit Protection Scheme, totalling some £548,747.

The sum of £67,000 was owned to those tenants who had been identified. Gregory’s defence said the remaining money had been repaid to the tenants, although it had never been paid into the scheme.

As the law stands, there will be nothing to stop Gregory working in the lettings industry when she leaves jail.