We discovered our wedding planner had scammed us just three days before our big day

A couple who were scammed out of more than £2,000 have revealed the moment they started to realize their ‘evil and deranged’ wedding planner had disappeared – just three days before their wedding.

Jason and Nicky Asquith-Thorpe, of Harrogate, North Yorkshire, paid Dana Twidale, 44, to provide the marquee, tables, chairs and food for 100 guests at their wedding reception on July 27, 2019.

But just three days before their wedding, they discovered it was all a scam – the fraudster disappeared and plans for their big day were left in shambles.

Between 2017 and 2019, Twidale, from Hull, ‘wrecked’ the weddings of 24 couples when she took payment for services she failed to provide, Hull Crown Court heard. She was sentenced to five years in prison in July 2021.

Jason and Nicky have now opened up about their ordeal in the third installment of Quest Red’s series, The Big Swindle, which airs tomorrow and tells the stories of the most brutal and ruthless con artists and the victims they hunted.

Twidale – who also lied that she was a victim of domestic violence, that her mother had died and that her brother had attempted suicide in order to scam people she knew – used the money to pay for a gambling problem and a vacation from a month to Spain. .

In a clip from The Big Swindle, Jason and Nicky explain how they found out they were the wedding planner considered “a friend,” she hadn’t met at the venue as planned — just three days before the wedding.

Nicky recalls, “We all went to the venue together, so my mom, my aunt, myself, Jason, my kids.

“We were hoping Dana would be there with her van to set up the marquee and chairs and tables.”

Jason continues, “When we got to the venue, there was no van, no marquee, nothing.

“There was a car parked with a couple we’d never seen before, we assumed one of them was Dana.

“They were the people she hired to fill the marquee—to make it really special for us. And they were still none the wiser, they assumed she would show up too.’

Nicky continues, “This is the worst part – Dana had messaged me saying ‘we’ll be late, don’t worry, we’ll be there.’ And that was the last message I got from her.’

Still thinking there had to be a logical explanation, Jason says, “She hadn’t shown up by lunchtime. We kept calling and it went on and on. So then we thought maybe it was a problem with the phones, so then I called, then someone else called.

“The couple who were there to put the marquee together called, there was just no answer. It was surreal because someone from Hull had turned up and they were there putting all the decorations together.

‘I think it was about 2 o’clock – we had to go to church to do our rehearsals…when we get back she’ll set everything up. We didn’t know what was happening, we didn’t know if there was anything wrong with her.’

Jason spoke out about the fraudster in June 2021, saying they initially thought she was very ‘approachable’ after finding her on Facebook.

His wife traveled to Hull to meet Twidale and said she ‘really liked’ the planner after showing her photos of venues and marquees.

But after Twidale didn’t show up at their venue and disappeared days before the wedding, Jason slammed the “cunning” wedding planner for “ruining” their wedding day.

He said, “Emotionally it should have been one of the happiest days of our lives, but it was one of the worst. It was frustrating, annoying and just heartbreaking.”

Luckily for the couple, they were able to use a Harrogate Town Football Club church hall and bar to host their wedding, but had to spend an extra £3,000.

They reported Twidale to the police and almost two years after the nightmare she pleaded guilty to defrauding Nicky of £2,247.

Jason continued: “We were constantly talking about it for the next few days, wondering why she did this to us.”

After fleeing and disappearing without a trace, Twidale was eventually spotted sunbathing in Benidorm, Spain, and reportedly also in Tenerife.

But in May 2020, she was back in Britain and seen eating takeaways in the Humberside region. The law eventually caught up with the scammer and in 2021 she was jailed for five years.

Jason said, “It was mind boggling to find out how many people had been victimized and how devious she had been.”

The police and the Action Fraud reporting agency started an investigation into Twidale after complaints from engaged couples, catering and event rental companies and DJs.

A number of men in love also said that the mother of four had defrauded them of large sums of money.

One man, 45, said he lost £4,000 on her. And another suitor who met her on the Tinder dating app claimed to have given her £10,000 for her mother’s funeral – only to find out that her mother was still alive.

The news of her guilt came as a relief to many – none more so than her estranged husband Carl Twidale who had to fight to clear his name after being accused of knowing about her bad behavior.

When the allegations came to light two years ago, Carl said: “It was crippling to read about all the scams and I can’t believe she did this.

“When I first met her she was sweet, bubbly and you just wanted to be around her. Anyone would say the same thing, but it seems it was all part of the act.

‘There are no words. She’s just bad and it’s twisted – you can’t do the things she’s done.”

Carl, from Hull, has been estranged from Twidale for at least four years. He said he wants to divorce her for good so that they are no longer linked by name and he can make a fresh start with his new girlfriend.

Carl says he has been approached by other men claiming to have been dating Twidale in recent years.

Carl hasn’t heard from Twidale since she moved out of his flat. They have been estranged for years and he was threatened when she was first accused of fraud in 2019.

The Big Swindle airs on Quest Red and Discovery+ on Saturday, May 27 at 10 p.m