Serial fraudster conned OAP out of £18k ‘loan’
ASERIAL fraudster conned a vulnerable pensioner out of thousands of pounds’ worth of savings by asking him repeatedly for loans that she never repaid.
Claire Rogers left her victim nearly £18,000 out of pocket by begging him to lend her cash while she was the subject of a court order for previous fraud offences.
Sentencing her at Cardiff Crown Court, Recorder Mark Powell QC said: “I regard this as an extremely serious pattern of behaviour.”
Rogers was given a 20-month jail term, suspended for two years, in May 2014 for seven counts of fraud involving victims in their seventies and eighties.
Recorder Powell noted the new offences occurred “almost immediately” after that sentence was imposed.
Janet McDonald, prosecuting, said 66-year-old Philip Bray, who lived in sheltered accommodation, was friends with the defendant’s mother.
The court heard he had received a redundancy payment and was willing to lend Rogers money.
Ms McDonald said: “He treated her like a daughter. He felt sorry for her and wanted to help her with her financial difficulties.”
Prosecutors said Mr Bray was aware of the previous criminal proceedings and gave the defendant lifts to court.
Rogers told him she was worried about going to prison and thought she might avoid a jail term if she could pay the money back.
The court heard he lent her £3,500 so she could offer compensation to her previous victims.
Ms McDonald said: “She did not pay that money to the court, she kept it for herself.”
Prosecutors said she continued to borrow smaller amounts – £150 here and £200 there – “stringing him along” with promises she had an insurance claim pending.
The court heard she withdrew £210 with his bank card, then £220, telling him she was “under pressure from the bailiffs”.
Ms McDonald said the complainant, who kept records of the amounts, became “concerned about the rising level of debt”.
Rogers sent him a message saying: “£17,890 will be paid to you this week when I get my claim.”
Mr Bray asked her for proof of the insurance payout and she showed him a fake email that she told him was from her insurance company promising her £18,000.
Prosecutors said Mr Bray had “had enough” by September 2016 and reported the matter to the police.
In her police interview, Rogers accepted she owed Mr Bray between £17,000 and £18,000, adding her memory of individual amounts was “vague”.
She accepted keeping the money he gave her to pay the court, stating she was using it for living expenses because she was “in difficulty”.
The defendant told officers she fully intended to repay Mr Bray.
Claire Rogers, who recently married and is now Claire Cox, 40, of Highfield Crescent in Aberbargoed, Caerphilly, admitted two counts of fraud. She initially denied the charges, but changed her pleas on the day her trial was due to start.
The defendant was in breach of a suspended sentence imposed for defrauding elderly victims living at sheltered accommodation Ty Melin, Croespenmaen, out of thousands of pounds.
Robert Newton, from the Probation Service, said she now works part-time in a chip shop and is trying, with the help of her husband, to sort out her ongoing debts.
James Evans, defending, stressed his client was not living a lavish lifestyle, adding: “She was in dire financial straits.”
He told the court her plea came late in the day because she was so ashamed of her offending she did not even tell her husband about it.
Mr Evans added: “She is bitterly ashamed of what she has done.”
Recorder Powell noted the new offences occurred in “exactly the same set of circumstances” as the previous offences.
Rogers was jailed for 42 months. Recorder Powell said: “Although I would dearly like to make an order for compensation for the victim, you do not have the means to pay.”