Texts urged con to fund splurges

A CHEERLEADER urged her fraudster boyfriend to con pensioners out of thousands of pounds to fund her luxury lifestyle, a court has heard.

When told one victim had been scammed out of £5,000, Rebecca Batchelor texted “Woooooo, shopping time. Omg hahahaa I am joking.”

In another Whatsapp exchange with swindler Anis Ben-sghaier, 25, the model asked: “Is Dot paying today?”

When Ben-sghaier said yes, Batchelor replied: “She better be, the b **** .”

Batchelor, 21, runs the cheerleading squad at Billericay Town FC, once fired – and then re-hired – after being accused of distracting players at the Essex club.

The model helped draft a letter to a victim, urging them to invest in useless carbon credits, a court heard, and used a stolen credit card on shopping trips.

Some of the fraud cash was put as a down-payment on a Range Rover Sport.

Batchelor, of Rayleigh, Essex, had denied getting money from the fraud but yesterday admitted a charge of converting criminal property after the messages were read out to Chelmsford crown court.

Ben-sghaier cold-called pensioners and got them to “invest” their cash. He admits taking more than £200,000 from nine victims with his brother Amin, 27.

His ex Cathreen Welch, 23, of Waltham Abbey, Essex, and brother Bilal, 22, of Harlow, deny profiting from the scam.

The trial continues.