HEAVYWEIGHT LESBIANS’ HONEY TRAP SEX CON
A LESBIAN couple who used sex to steal thousands of pounds from “vulnerable” men have been jailed.
Stephanie Turner-Langhorn was sentenced to four years along with her lover Rema Thompson – who received 14 months – after she admitted taking more than £16,000 from the two men.
A court heard how the crimes began in June 2010 after Turner-Langhorn, 28, befriended Brian Atkinson, who lived in a flat close to their home in Barrow, Cumbria.
Mr Paul Hague, prosecuting at Burnley Crown Court, said that Turner-Langhorn encountered 52-year-old Mr Atkinson for the first time in April or May of that year lying on the floor outside his property.
Mr Atkinson had fallen into ill health, unemployment and alcoholism after he’d had a stroke ten years earlier, Mr Hague said.
Turner-Langhorn befriended Mr Atkinson and he began to give her his debit card so she could go and buy groceries.
Instead she bought flooring and rugs for her flat, clothes and a BMX bike.
Between June 13 and August 31 his bank account went from being more than £21,000 in credit to £1,142 overdrawn, Mr Hague said.
Bed
Although some of the purchases were to buy items for Mr Atkinson, who has since died, he said “in large part they were an exploitation by her for her own benefit”.
After she had been arrested and bailed on suspicion of these offences, Turner-Langhorn then befriended another victim, Keith Wilson, 78.
She first met Mr Wilson in the street in Barrow in December 2012 and said she needed help because a friend had “done her over”.
During December both she and Thompson, 35, visited Mr Wilson, persuading him to give them £199 to buy a new bed.
He gave them his bank card and they used it to buy items for themselves, with Turner-Langhorn taking £433 and Thompson £259.
Mr Hague said Turner-Langhorn also “sexually petted” him and let him have sex with her on one occasion as part of the process of persuading him to give them the money. She also stole £300 in cash during a home visit.
On December 16, 2012, she also stole a television from sheltered accommodation at Horeland Court in Barrow.
Mr Hague said she and another woman went into the building, taking the TV from a communal area and leaving via a fire escape.
Turner-Langhorn admitted two charges of theft, four of fraud and one charge of burglary, while Thompson admitted five charges of fraud.
Defence barrister Mr Tim Storie said Turner-Langhorn had a history of heroin addiction, which had driven her offending, but she had successfully stopped using the drug and wanted to change her ways.
Thompson’s defence barrister, Rachael Woods, said that she had only used Mr Wilson’s card for small transactions over a short period of time.
Passing sentence the judge said the pair had both “ruthlessly” targeted “vulnerable” victims.
DC Sarah McArthur, investigating officer in the case, said: “This is a tragic story as the victim targeted died and did not see them being brought to justice. The crimes that these two committed were despicable as they preyed on the vulnerable and elderly.”