By Danny Buckland
Best Magazine
June 1999

Diane Forrester watches as her two-year-old twin grandsons play together in the garden.

The family is gathered together for Sunday lunch. But there’s one member who won’t be eating with them – Diane’s eldest daughter Chantal.

Diane knows it’ll be a long time before Chantal gets to see her family again. She’s in an American jail and she’s not due out for 24 years.

"It breaks my heart," says Diane, 50, from Slough, Berkshire. "Chantal’s no criminal and locking her up for that long is barbaric.

"She should be here with her family – she’s godmother to her twin nephews who she adores. She desperately wanted children of her own. Now she’ll never have them – she’ll be 54 when she comes out of jail."

Diane still finds it hard to believe that her beautiful daughter has been jailed for her part in a fraud set up by her and American husband William. Worse, Chantal’s sentence was harsher than those given out for child pornography and manslaughter.

Looking back at Chantal’s upbringing, it’s hard to see how she could have ended up in such a mess.

"She was such a lovely child – the most sensible of my three daughters," Diane recalls. "She always took charge of her little sisters, Joanne and Kerry, and would hold their hands when they went to the shops.

"She loved animals, too. Once she came home with a pigeon so old it could barely see, let alone fly. She insisted on looking after it. She was like that with all animals."

Chantal grew up like any other teenage girl, her bedroom wall plastered with posters of Duran Duran and Adam Ant. She was popular at school and loved sport.

When her parents got divorced Chantal, who was 12, felt the effects more than her younger sisters, then aged eight and two.

"I know she was very hurt but she coped well," says Diane. "She stayed close to her dad and saw him often.

"When Chantal was 19, she had the chance to spend a summer as a nanny in America. She was so excited

"I wasn’t surprised when she said she loved Florida and was staying on after the summer.

"She’d phone and write to us every week – she sounded so happy."

Then her letters began mentioning a William McCorkle.

"Her letters were full of William says…William is…I could tell she was in love," Diane says. "I couldn’t wait to meet him."

But, before there was time, Diane got a telephone call… "Chantal told me, ‘Mum, we’ve got married.’  I couldn’t believe they’d done it without telling me," Diane recalls. "But they’d had to do it in a hurry because Chantal’s visa had run out.

"She told me they’d had a fairytale wedding, exchanging vows under a red Chinese pagoda."

Soon after, Diane and new husband Len went out to meet William.

"We liked him right away and he clearly adored Chantal," she recalls.

Diane came home full of stories of Chantal’s lifestyle.

"William’s business trading in repossessed land and property was thriving and each time we went, the cars were bigger and more expensive.

"They were never flashy, though. As well as the business, Chantal still found time to work voluntarily at the local animal sanctuary."

But just when everything seemed to be going so well for Chantal, she got a terrible shock – her father Les committed suicide.

"We were stunned. He’d phoned Chantal on her 26^th birthday, but he never told her that his printing business was in dire trouble," says Diane.

Two days later, he killed himself in a fume-filled car.

"Chantal was distraught. She felt guilty that she hadn’t been there to help him," says Diane. "So, to cope she threw herself into her work."

Business was still booming. William had launched a TV advertising campaign, the ads showing him and Chantal enjoying and opulent lifestyle and offering viewers the chance to get the same. For just $69 they’d receive a video and an information pack on how they could make a fortune from property deals. Thousands sent their money.

Next time Diane visited, Chantal and William had moved to an imposing 1-million GBP property with a swimming pool.

"They seemed to work all hours," Diane recalls. "I was worried Chantal was doing too much."

Then during one stay, Diane was given her first indication of the drama to come.

"It was only 7 am and I couldn’t sleep so I went out for a cigarette.  Suddenly I saw a man over the other side of the swimming pool. Next thing I knew there were dozens of policemen and FBI agents in body armour hammering on the door.

"Chantal came to the door in her dressing gown and they came crashing through the doorway. Some were carrying guns. It was terrifying.

"William kept asking what they wanted. Chantal was shaking and I held her as she kept saying, ‘I don’t know what’s happening, Mum’."

Police ransacked the house, taking away files, jewelry and computer information on the company.

"We stood there helpless," Diane recalls. "All we learnt was that it was something to do with the adverts.

"We were all in shock, and convinced there’d been a mistake."

When Diane returned to England, the situation was no clearer. Chantal and William’s company was allowed to continue trading but they were told the investigation was ongoing.

"Chantal didn’t seem worried at all. She kept saying, ‘Don’t worry, Mum, we haven’t done anything wrong’," recalls Diane.

A few weeks later all that changed. "Chantal rang sounding extremely worried. ‘They’re trying to close the business down,’ she told me."

The police said that William and Chantal had duped 1000 customers with the advert. They were to be charged with 151 counts of fraud and money laundering worth 45 million GBP.

"Chantal told me she had no idea they were doing anything wrong," says Diane. "She didn’t understand most of the business stuff but if she was asked to sign anything she always did. She trusted her husband and wanted to help.

"Although I was worried, Chantal insisted they’d clear their names."

The trial, in February last year, lasted 10 weeks. Chantal was accused of using her English accent and good looks in the fraudulent advert. Her defense argued she hadn’t knowingly committed any crime.

As the trial drew to a close, Diane and Len flew to Florida. Together they sat in the public gallery as the verdicts were read out.

"The lawyers had said there’d be no problem. So when I heard the ‘Guilty’ verdict for both William and Chantal I nearly passed out.

"I started shouting at the judge that she’d made a mistake. Someone led me out. The last thing I saw were Chantal’s eyes saying, ‘Mum, do something’. But of course, I couldn’t. It was the worst moment of my life."

A few weeks later sentences were passed – 24 years with no parole.

"We knew Florida was tough on fraud but nothing could have prepared me for that," says Diane.

"I went to see Chantal in prison. She was wearing a boiler suit, her hands and legs cuffed. We had to speak by phone and we both cried."

Diane saw legal experts, all of whom said they considered Chantal’s sentence too severe. In the UK, she would get a maximum of five years.

However this isn’t any help to Chantal, now 31, forced to live among murderers and drug addicts. One fellow inmate killed her husband and carved the Star of David on his back. Even she’ll be eligible for parole before Chantal is.

I’ve ordered hot chocolate, Chantal wrote in a recent letter to Diane. It reminds me of you, Mum. I’m sorry for putting you through this.

"She works in the library during the day and shares a tiny cell with a toilet in the middle with another prisoner," says Diane. "She tries to keep herself to herself, does a lot of reading and talks of being a vet when she gets out.

"When we speak she always worries about how we all are – she’s even sent flowers to me on Mother’s Day via a friend. But she fears her chance to have children is passing her by.

"She and William write to each other every day. He’s a broken man and can’t understand how this could have happened."

Now Diane and her family are pinning their hopes on an appeal, which could take three years to be heard. She’s also trying to get the Government interested in Chantal’s case.

"Anyone who knows Chantal knows that she’s never had a crooked thought in her life," she says. "What’s happened to her is beyond belief. She’s innocent and I’ll never give up trying to set her free."