‘I was forced to take part in the scam when someone threatened to burn my house down’

A bogus estate agent was caught trying to cheat a couple out of a deposit when the real owners showed up, a court heard. Preet-kaur Johal, 26, claimed she only went along with plan to con to scam prospective tennats Alex Water and Aline Lima out of £1,500 because ‘a friend of a friend’ threatened to burn her house down. Prosecutor Corran Helme said: ‘There were two people contacted through Gumtree about renting a property. ‘The defendant met the couple…