Kettering fraudster told partially-sighted victim she was a nurse before conning him

A fraudster who conned a partially-sighted man after telling him she was a nurse has been locked up.

Maria Davis, formerly of Regent Street in Kettering, bought items for herself and withdrew cash after her victim trusted her to get shopping for him using his bank card.

The 42-year-old was jailed earlier this month and her cruel crimes can now be reported after she admitted other drugs offences on the day of a trial last week.

Jailing her, Recorder Graham Huston said: "These are despicable offences committed by someone who has no sense of shame."

Northampton Crown Court had heard that Davis approached her victim, who is registered blind and has a learning disability, and offered him assistance with his groceries in May 2020.

Prosecuting, Serena Varatharajah said: "She said her name was Claire Taylor and [that she] was a registered nurse."

After being invited into his house, Davis offered to do his shopping and was given his bank card. She then called her victim and claimed that contactless payments were not working to get his PIN.

But Davis, who appeared over videolink from HMP Peterborough, then used his card to defraud him a number of times. She went to a Costcutter and spent £37.96 on items for herself before going to a Morrisons and taking out £250 in cash.

An attempt to take another £250 out from Santander was declined and she went to a Tesco store and bought Lucozade and crisps, before making further payments for cigarettes and scratchcards. The court heard the total value of the fraud was £1,278.

The victim and his carers later realised money was missing from his account and contacted police, who arrested Davis. But she did not confess.

Recorder Huston said: "You gave a false account, pretending he had agreed to you borrowing money from him."

Davis later admitted six charges of fraud by false representation. The court heard she has 21 convictions for 77 offences dating back to 2003 – including 17 offences of fraud by false representation.

In an impact statement read out in court, Davis’ victim said he felt that she took advantage of his disability and that he was now a lot more wary around people.

Mitigating, Pree Brada said Davis was much more motivated to stick to a suspended sentence and was desperate to work with the probation service to keep clean of her addiction.

She said: "What she is asking for is one last chance."

But Recorder Huston said Davis had made little attempt to comply with supervision requirements and that a community disposal in her case would be 'futile'.

He reduced her prison sentence from 12 months to a total of eight months because of her guilty plea, and told her she would serve up to half in custody before being released where she will spend 12 months on licence.

She is due to be sentenced over the drugs matters in January next year when she potentially faces more time behind bars.