£135k con artist left relatives penniless
A GRANDDAUGHTER who pretended to have cancer to con elderly relatives out of nearly £135,000 has been jailed for four years.
Asha Dawes, who was at the time using the name Asha Pinder, was convicted of defrauding her grandparents of £72,950, and her great aunt and uncle of £61,893, over three years.
Dawes, 22, from Worthing, East Sussex, began siphoning money from her grandmother’s savings in 2014. At the same time, she forged documents to pretend that she had cancer.
But she told her great aunt and uncle that a substantial medical negligence pay-out had been delayed and persuaded the pair to lend her the money.
Dawes then forged documents to convince her grandparents – who had cared for her since the age of 11 – that their son was being pursued by HM Revenue and Customs and that their house would be confiscated if they did not leave the country.
Skeletal
Grandparents Shirley and John left for Spain, with Dawes pocketing £55,750 from the sale of their house.
In 2016 the couple ran out of money. Unable to pay for food or medication, they lost a quarter of their body weight and John was hospitalised. Both were described by witnesses as being “skeletal”.
Dawes was finally caught when family visited her grandparents and raised suspicions.
Around the same time, Dawes was exposed on Instagram as only pretending to have cancer. She had received a number of gifts from well-wishers, including a crowdfunder, and was a paid blogger.
Sentencing Dawes to a four-year prison sentence at Hove Crown Court on Tuesday, Judge Shani Barnes said: “These charges are an abuse of love and loyalty which I have seen very rarely, and even more rarely by members of their family.”