Corby sisters in their 80s ordered around banks to collect thousands for London-based fraudsters posing as police officers

Two Corby sisters were ordered to go to cash machines around Corby to collect nearly £11,000 to hand over to a man posing as a police officer.

The pair handed over £7,000 before phoning police, and quick-thinking Northants officers managed to snare one of the fraudsters after he travelled to Corby to pick up more cash.

Northampton Crown Court heard how the sisters had been left 'disgusted' after the incident

Her Honour Judge Adrienne Lucking was told how one of the sisters, aged 85, received a call on June 15 last year from a man claiming to be DC Ryan Harris from the serious fraud squad at Hammersmith Police Station. He told her that £1,500 had been taken from her account and that she must go to Natwest in Corby and withdraw thousands.

She did so, and while the line to the 'police officer' was still open, she was told to go to the Euroshop and withdraw more from the cash machine there. She was then told by the person on the phone to go to Barclays and change £2,000 of the money she'd withdrawn into Euros. He then told her to go and get a further £900 from bank cash machines in Corby.

That afternoon, a 'courier' now known to be Abdul Ha-Meem, aged 20, travelled to their home and collected £7,600 from their home in Constable Road that they'd been told to wrap in a carrier bag. Later, after speaking to one of their sons, the women realised they'd been the victim of a crime and called in police.

The following day, Northants PC Neil McKenzie visited their home and while he was there, the fraudster again phoned and told the women to go to Natwest and withdraw £3,200. They did so, watched by police officers, and when Ha-Meem again turned up to collect the cash - which was actually baby wipes wrapped in a bag - police officers gave chase and caught him as he tried to escape over a fence, injuring himself as he fell down.

He was questioned and released on police bail, which he repeatedly breached and he was eventually remanded in custody to await his court hearing.

Ha-Meem, of Clare Gardens, Barking, denied two counts of fraud and stood trial at Northampton Crown Court where a jury found him guilty.

He was sentenced on Friday (March 25).

In a victim personal statement to the court, one of the women said: "I am absolutely disgusted by what these people have done to me and my sister. They were very convincing and I truly believed I was dealing with the police. It was a big chunk of myself and my sister's savings."

Prosecuting barrister, Jollyon Robertson, said: "She no longer answers the phone, she's worried in her own home. This has had a significant impact."

The court heard how, during 2020, there had been 50 reports of this type of courier fraud in Northamptonshire, with at least £76,000 stolen.

Ha-Meem had been handed a suspended sentence in November 2020 for knife possession and the court was told this fraud had breached that sentence.

In mitigation, the court heard how he had been devastated by the death of his own grandmother and was 'immature', but that he still denied the fraud.

Judge Lucking said: "These were vulnerable women. It has had a serious, detrimental effect on them financially."

She said they had an anxious three-month wait to see if the bank would refund their money, which it eventually did.

She also praised the police officers involved, saying: "The police officers acted very quickly indeed and the following day they were ready and waiting when contact was again made by the fraudsters."

Ha-Meem was given a jail sentence of three years and four months, to be served consecutively with the previous suspended sentence.

He will serve half the sentence before he is eligible for release.

The other people involved in the fraud have never been charged.