An American woman dubbed ‘Queen of the con’ who swindled more than £100,000 from friends in Northern Ireland before fleeing to the US and posing as a fake heiress has been jailed for three years.

Marianne Smyth, 56, stole the six-figure sum from clients after befriending them while working as a mortgage adviser between 2008 and 2010.

She then fled overseas to continue conning others, claiming to be on the run from the IRA. 

The former mortgage adviser, who has an address in Spa Road, Ballynahinch, County Down, was extradited from the US to Northern Ireland in 2024 to face charges of theft and fraud.

She has been held in custody since February 2024, when she was arrested by US law enforcement under an extradition warrant. 

A judge confirmed to Downpatrick Crown Court that Smyth will be deported back to the US after serving her sentence.

Smyth was sentenced to five years in a California jail in 2019 after swindling TV producer Johnathan Walton out of almost $100,000.

Smyth – alleged to be hiring herself out for sex to a dozen men a month on a ‘sugar daddy’ website before blackmailing her callers with threats to tell their wives – had also dodged jail after stealing $200,000 from her employer three years prior.

After fleeing to the US she had also posed as a Satanist occultist and an alternative healer called Lucia Belia, describing herself as ‘an Emissary of Satan, a practitioner of Black Magic, a psychic with Clairsentient, Claircognitive, Clairtangient, Clairvoyant, and channeling gifts’.

The 56-year-old, from Bangor in the US state of Maine, had dodged justice in Northern Ireland for over 15 years after stealing money from customers who were convinced their cash was being invested in property and high-interest bank accounts.

In reality, she was spending the money on travel and shopping before she vanished. 

Among her victims were Gaelic football star Dermot McNicholl.

It was her later decision to cross Mr Walton that proved to be her undoing – after he used his media savvy to bring her to the world’s attention.

He serialised his experience of being defrauded by Smyth as well as several other of her alleged ruses – including claiming to know Jennifer Aniston, reportedly posing as her in another scam – on podcast Queen of the Con: The Irish Heiress. 

She also purported to be as a psychic and a Satanic priestess.

And after publishing the podcast in 2021, the American Ninja Warrior producer says he was contacted by listeners who gave him Smyth’s address in Maine, which he then passed onto Northern Irish authorities.

Walton has detailed more of Smyth’s alleged practices as a serial fraudster in a new book, Anatomy of a Con Artist, after meeting her at a resident’s meeting in LA to discuss access to a swimming pool.

She is thought to have lived more than 10 different aliases including Marianne Andle, Marianne Welch, Mair Elis, Mairaine Ni Clerigh and Elizabeth Smyth – and even underwent cosmetic surgery to change her appearance in an effort to hide.

She claimed she stood to inherit $40million from a non-existent Irish royal family whom she said helped the country’s constitution – and convinced him to give her tens of thousands of dollars with the promise it would be returned.

Smyth was extradited from the US to Northern Ireland last year after being arrested in February 2024. She had begged American authorities not to extradite her to Northern Ireland, claiming she would be ‘murdered’ by the IRA.

However, she was flown to the UK last summer and finally convicted in September.

Smyth was found guilty of three counts of theft and three counts of fraud by abuse of position at Downpatrick Crown Court in Co Down last month.

The counts included stealing more than £72,000 from one couple, £23,000 from another victim and £20,000 from another between 2008 and 2010.

Police said the total amount she obtained was £135,000, however, some of that total was recovered.

Smyth, with an address given as Spa Road in Ballynahinch, Co Down was today sentenced to four years in prison, reduced to three years and four months in recognition of time she spent in US custody.

She is to serve half the sentence in custody and half on remand, and is also set to be deported back to the US.

The court heard she had used her position as a mortgage adviser to earn her client’s trust and also befriended them and socialised with them, promising an investment opportunity.

The alarm was raised after she returned to the US.

After her victims came forward to police, Smyth was arrested in the US in February 2024 before being extradited to Northern Ireland where she stood trial last month.

Smyth returned to the dock at Downpatrick Crown Court on Friday morning to learn her sentence, while some of those she defrauded sat just a few rows behind her.

Dark-haired and wearing a pink-coloured polo neck top and grey cardigan, she looked ahead without expression throughout the sentencing hearing.

A defence barrister described how his client had faced an ‘arduous’ time on remand in custody in the US and urged that her time spent on remand abroad be deducted from her sentence.

District Judge Sandra Crawford said she had been moved by personal statements from Smyth’s victims, commenting it was clear that they had been affected profoundly, not just financially but also by the dishonesty.

She also paid tribute to the victim’s stoicism and dignity as they attended court during the trial last month.

The court also heard that Smyth has not received any visits, either in person or virtual, during her period on remand at HMP Hydebank on the outskirts of Belfast.

Turning to Smyth, Judge Crawford said she continues to deny responsibility and shows little to no insight to the impact of her offending, describing her as an ‘incorrigible fraudster’.

Speaking outside court, one of Smyth’s victims who lost her family home after being defrauded, said she was pleased to see the sentence handed down, but did not believe it was long enough.

‘It was 17 years ago, she was working for an independent mortgage company, and she came round the doors, and we were looking to get our mortgage sorted out at the time … I trusted her because I saw the company name and trusted she was working for the company, but she was (going round the doors) on her own bat,’ she said.

‘We got very friendly and she actually babysat my two children.

‘I trusted her, she seemed like a really nice lady … it was terrible to know that someone had stolen that amount of money from me.

‘I lost my house as well, with two young children at that time. Thank God I have good family, and they have helped me because I had no money.’

She added: ‘I would have liked to have seen more (a longer sentence) because of all the victims.

‘I don’t want what happened to me to happen to anyone else. What happened will always stay with me, I will never, ever forget what we went through until the day I die.’

Also speaking outside court, Detective Constable Mark Anderson said the sentencing is the result of a ‘complex investigation conducted by detectives and financial investigators with support from law enforcement partners in the United States’.

‘To this day, Smyth denies all responsibility for her crimes. She now faces deportation back to the United States,’ he said.

‘Her victims have waited a long time to see justice served, and we want to thank them for their patience and co-operation with our investigation. Sadly, one of her victims died before court proceedings concluded and our thoughts are with their family today.

‘Today’s sentence should send a clear message to those involved in scamming hard-working people that they will be vigorously pursued and brought before the courts to face the consequences of their actions, no matter how long it takes.

‘We would encourage anyone who believes they may have been the victim of a similar crime to come forward by calling 101, or report online at https://www.psni.police.uk/report.’