REAL-LIFE CROOKS WHO INSPIRED O

Jeanne was born to a poor family in 18th-century France. Disappointed with her lot, and the lifestyle her husband offered, she decided to con her way to riches.

She heard that a jeweller was trying to sell an diamond necklace to King Louis XVI for his queen, Marie Antoinette. But he was refusing to buy it. So Jeanne saw an opportunity. She took a gigolo, Retaux de Villette, as her lover. She then became the mistress of Cardinal Prince Louis de Rohan, who wanted desperately to befriend Marie Antoinette. Jeanne got Retaux to forge letters from Antoinette to the cardinal, claiming she and Jeanne were friends, and asking if he would lend her cash to buy the necklace.

Jeanne set up a meeting between the cardinal and the “queen”, played by a lookalike prostitute. The cardinal was fooled and went to buy the necklace, giving it to Jeanne to pass on.

Jeanne fled, but was eventually arrested. She later escaped from prison and scampered to Britain. At the ripe age of 87, “Diamond” Doris Payne is now known as the Granny Gem Thief, but was once dubbed America’s most successful jewel robber.

Doris, who was raised in West Virginia and Ohio, would dress in her finest clothes, go to a jewellery store and ask staff to show her a number of diamond rings. She would try to confuse them

about how many they had taken out to show her, and slip one into her handbag. She would then ask to see that ring, causing a panic when they couldn’t locate it. Doris would then come to the rescue by apparently finding it. Having earned the staff’s trust, she would then walk out unsuspected, having swiped another ring during the commotion. One of her In the 18th ce Liechtenstein, wa Europe. She used an Born to a homeless young age. She came up wealthy woman and turn u She would tell the owner had to be kept in the best ro But the suitcase actually c creep out of the bag at night He would then hide, before biggest hauls was in Monte Carlo in the 70s, when she stole a £283,OOO, 10-carat diamond ring from Cartier, after being inspired by the novel To Catch a Thief.

Doris was sentenced to three years, but claims authorities never found the ring.

She said in a 2014 film: “I looked at that ring and saw nine zeros. The first thing I said to myself was, ‘You should not have done this’.”

She has been arrested at least 22 times – once in 2015 on suspicion of stealing diamond earrings while on parole handful of times. Autho 20 identities with nine d

She said in 2015: “Th that I went to steal that went to do. I don’t have stealing jewellery. I regr

Last year, she vowed outlaw, after pleading g glamorous crime of ste items from a Walmart s

TRICKSTER Saint-remy While many con women have targeted the wealthy or privileged, Juliette D’souza sought out much more vulnerable victims.Over a period of 12 years, the fraudster, now 63, convinced people in North London that she was a shamanic healer.She told victims she could cure terminal illnesses, help disabled children and enable women to conceive if they sent her money.She said the cash was a “sacrifice” used as a spiritual offering, and would be hung off a sacred tree in the Amazonian rainforest. Shamans would then perform rituals around the tree and their problems would be solved, she told her victims.But in 2014, a court heard how she had raked in over £1million, and spent money on luxury flats in Hampstead, holidays, designer handbags, clothes and watches.She was convicted of 23 counts of obtaining property by deception and fraud. Sentencing her to 10 years in jail, the judge said: “It seems to me that you have wrecked the lives of a number of victims and you have done it out of pure greed.” PREYED ON ILL Juliette D’souza CAPER Movie poster CON Doris Payne PLOT Man would hide in suitcase