COSTA Blanca fashion boss has entered Alicante prison to begin her three-and-a-half year sentence for defrauding two British expats through her collapsed pension firm.
The former boss of disgraced Continental Wealth Management (CWM), Smart – now legally known as Jody Pearson – handed herself in voluntarily, according to a court order seen by the Olive Press.
The order from the Alicante provincial court that convicted her confirms she is now in Alicante Cumplimiento prison.
Costa Blanca fraudster loses final appeal at Spain’s Supreme Court against four-year jail sentence
enjoying a recent trip to Venice. Credit: Instagram
Sally Anne Hodgson, one of three victims, lent €70,000 to CWM and never saw a cent of it again.
“I hope that this time away will give her time to think about her actions, and how she has mistreated those around her,” Hodgson said.
The Alicante court convicted Smart in April 2025 of deliberately swindling Hodgson and fellow expat Tim Benjamin, who handed CWM money for a Costa Blanca property that never existed.
A third complainant in the case, Mark Davison, lost €800,000 but died before the verdict, so he never saw Smart convicted or jailed.
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Smart was the sole shareholder of Continental Wealth Management. Credit: Archive
These sums are just a drop in the ocean, however, compared to the estimated €35,000,000 that Smart and her erstwhile partner Darren Kirby are believed to have lost their clients when CWM collapsed in 2017. Around a thousand mostly British retirees residing on the Costa Blanca lost parts of or all of their retirement savings.
The founder of Jody Bell Fashion (one of Smart’s numerous former names which also includes Kirby), she immediately appealed to the High Court of Valencia, but was rebuffed when it upheld both her conviction and sentence in October 2025.
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She then took her legal team to Spain’s Supreme Court in one last hail mary to avoid jail, but it ruled her final appeal inadmissible earlier in the summer, meaning judges refused even to examine her arguments.
Having also been ordered to pay a combined €373,000 to her victims by the end of April 2025, Hodgson is sceptical she will ever receive compensation.
“She will have moved a lot of money to an offshore bank account on the Isle of Man,” the teacher said.
Alicante Cumplimiento prison. Credit: infoprison
“It’s just a pity she used this money on the case, and not to pay back Tim and I.
“I just get the impression that she has always been terribly spoilt, always got her own way and, up to now, has thought she was untouchable.”
Hodgson was working as an administrative assistant at CWM when Smart talked her into lending the firm €70,000, to be repaid within 12 months plus interest.
She was dismissed weeks later, just before the company collapsed.
Hodgson said she warned Smart on the day staff were let go: “I told her that I needed that money, and would file a lawsuit if she didn’t pay me back.”
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Smart then ‘strung her along’ until, Hodgson alleges, ‘one of Smart’s sons came on the phone and said he would ‘sort my face out’ if I didn’t leave her alone’.’
Hodgson said she then drove to Smart’s home with her lawyer to ask her to repay the loan before going to court, but Smart refused to come out.
“Her husband came out though and started shouting and abusing us,” she said.
Smart enjoying a trip to Thailand. Credit: Instagram
“He then filed a complaint for harassment with the Guardia Civil. But they lost that case as well, and the appeal.”
A wider criminal case against SWM covering roughly 1,000 victims collapsed in Denia in 2023, when a judge ruled there was ‘insufficient evidence’ to prosecute four other executives.
Smart, meanwhile, had carried on running Oceana, a beach club and restaurant in Benissa, and running a wedding planner business.
At the same time, she has posted numerous holidays in Venice, Greece and Thailand to her social media.
Smart has also applied to Spain’s Justice Ministry for a pardon, although court papers show she has dropped a request to delay her sentence while it is considered.
“It’s a pity that we can’t get Jody for all her other misdemeanours,” Hodgson added. “It wouldn’t be 3.5 years then, but more like 35 years.”
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