Suspended sentence for £1,000 catalogue fraud (From Western Telegraph)

Suspended sentence for £1,000 catalogue fraud

11:30am Sunday 10th March 2013 in County News

A 24-year-old Monkton woman fraudulently ordered more than £1,000 worth of items from a catalogue by pretending to be her ex-boyfriend’s mother, Haverfordwest magistrates court heard last week.

Elinor Jayne Page, of Longmains, pleaded guilty to committing fraud by false representation.

Between October 30th and December 18th, Page ordered clothes, furniture, electrical goods and toys worth £1,117.48 from Studio Catalogue Company using the account of her then boyfriend’s mother.

Ellie Morgan, prosecuting, told the court that Studio Catalogue Company received a call from a woman purporting to be the account holder on October 30th.

During the call Page changed the address on the account to her own and ordered items. She placed further orders on November 9th, 13th, 15th and 16th.

The company later received a call from the account holder saying she had not placed any orders.

Page’s boyfriend at the time went to the police after he found a letter addressed to his mother in her flat.

Officers recovered delivery reports and paperwork from Page’s flat, as well as some of the items she had ordered, which included a kitchen pan set and a knife set.

The court heard Page had told officers she was not in the right state of mind and was taking drugs at the time.

She did not hand herself in because she said she had been told she would go to prison for five years, so chose to dispose of the parcels in black bags instead.

Michael Kelleher, defending, said his client, a former teaching assistant, was a vulnerable person and at her lowest point.

After reading a probation report, magistrates handed Page a six-week prison sentence suspended for 18 months with a supervision order and a requirement to undertake a future skills programme.

Page was also ordered to pay £1,117.48 compensation, a £80 victim surcharge and £25 cost