Customers who fell behind on loan repayments were allegedly sent threatening text messages and in some cases their bank cards and PIN numbers were taken.  Customers did not fully understand how much interest they would have to pay back, or the interest charges involved.

Prosecutor Ben Mills said

The people she loaned to were vulnerable and very desperate for money. They felt trapped in a spiral of debt.“It was never fully explained to them what their interest rates were and when they would have to pay it back. “She was running a business in the shadows of the economy which circumvented all the rules.”

When police visited Dixons Cannock Road home, they found a large amount of cash together with envelopes containing customers names and cash which had been pushed through the front door.  Documents found at her home revealed that Dixon had lent £400,000 between March 2003 and November 2010.

Dixon admitted eight charges of illegal money lending.  She is due to be sentenced later.

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Michael Morris, 41, harassed his victims with threats, blackmail and property damage, Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court heard.

One woman, from Bury, was forced to pay back about £5,000 on a loan of £150.

Morris, of Salford, admitted affray, blackmail and criminal damage. Judge Bernard Lever said he was guilty of “attempted murder of the soul”.

Trading standards

Morris fought under the name Michael Armstrong and was a British super-featherweight champion in 1992.

He ran his illegal loan shark empire from his Armstrong’s Gym in Salford, charging customers extortionate rates of interest that many could not pay.

The court heard how he would threaten those who fell behind, cut phone and electrical cables to their homes and take goods such as televisions, laptops and digital cameras.

He was caught after an investigation by North West Trading Standards, which discovered more than 800 names in his loan book.

Morris pleaded guilty to three counts of blackmail, eight of criminal damage and single counts of affray and illegal money lending and was sentenced on Friday.

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