Lady Swindlers with Lucy Worsley is a new BBC Sounds series that delves into the story of an English scam artist who was fixated on Scotland. The story begins with a 1909 car crash on a dangerous bend of a clifftop road in Anglesey, North Wales. While the other two passengers survived the accident, the driver, Violet Charlesworth, mysteriously disappeared. A Tam o’ Shanter hat and a notebook listing road trips to locations like Sheffield and Edinburgh were the only things recovered from Violet’s belongings that washed up on the rocks.
When Violet’s stockbroker revealed she owed him £1 million, questions began to arise about her death, given that it occurred just before her 25th birthday. Lucy Worsley, the presenter of Lady Swindlers, reveals that Violet actually staged the accident to maintain her charade as a false heiress. In the days after the crash, it was discovered that Violet had borrowed thousands of pounds from her ex-fiancé as well as a widowed neighbour. She managed to con others into thinking she would inherit large sums of money on her birthday, offering them loans with the promise of rich rewards.
Violet had participated in numerous road trips around the UK on people’s money, using the ill-gotten gains to support her lavish lifestyle and purchase her family’s country home in Wales. Violet had also been renting a country house near Inverness in Scotland, complete with Scottish-style decor and a bagpipe collection that she wore Highland dress while playing. Lucy also reveals that Violet owned an auto-piano that played Scottish music on a loop, all essential components of her sophisticated illusion of wealth.
Following the crash, Violet’s family barricaded themselves inside their house for weeks while police conducted a night-time raid. Scotland became the focus of the hunt for Violet, with people across the country anxiously buying newspapers to stay informed about the “Violet on the run” case. Although she initially denied it, Violet decided to sell her story to a newspaper and was subsequently offered a leading role in a silent film about her exploits, hoping that public adoration would protect her from the law. Despite her efforts, Violet and her mother were sentenced to three years in jail for embezzling Violet’s ex-lover and neighbour. In 1912, Violet was released on license, only to disappear forever
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