Family waits as US judge decides on daughter's fate
icberkshire.co.uk
Oct 14, 2005

A WOMAN appealing against a 24-year jail sentence for fraud, conspiracy and money laundering faces another agonising wait to hear if her term will be cut.

Last Friday, Chantal McCorkle, 37, and her anxious family from Wexham, hoped a Florida appeal court judge would decide her sentence was excessive.

If successful, dad Len Forrester, mum Diane and sisters Joanne and Kerry wanted to apply immediately to get Chantal moved back to the UK to serve the rest of her term.

But now the case has been delayed for a fortnight so the judge can compare her jail term with that of defendants convicted on similar charges.

Chantal was jailed in 1998 for her part in a get-rich-quick property scheme with her ex-husband, William.

Prosecutors claimed the couple made more than $28 million in six months and laundered the money in an offshore account.

The couple maintained the scheme did work and that some customers made thousands of dollars.

Chantal's mother, Diane, of The Frith, Wexham, told the Express the next two weeks would be 'torturous'.

"The judge will be deciding whether to give my daughter her life back or take it away completely.

"I'm absolutely terrified of hearing the verdict. Chantal needs to be close to loved ones and friends, the very people she has been deprived of seeing for seven years."

Mrs Forrester, who has been forced through ill health to stay at home as Len travels from Slough to Florida, said the family remained hopeful.

She added: "We can't be anything else. But judges don't like to admit they were wrong in the first place."

Slough MP Fiona Mactaggart has spoken out against the length of Chantal's sentence.

She has encouraged almost 130 MPs to sign an Early Day Motion for Chantal's immediate release.

Mrs McCorkle's lawyer, Mark Horwitz warned that a recent change in U.S. law will mean that she could be resentenced but not released.