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Bogus charity collector
Michelle Roberts takes cash from a pub

by Rachel Hovenden

A thief who pretended she was collecting money for
charities for the terminally ill has been spared jail.

Michelle Roberts, 43, took cash from six shops, pubs and cafes
by pretending to be a collector from either Demelza
Hospice, the Kent Association for the Blind or the EllenorLions
Hospice.

She had a folder full of Demelza Hospice leaflets and
sometimes wore a fake ID badge.

On other occasions she pretended she was a nurse for the hospice
- calling herself Penny Lynch or Penny White - and on one
occasion even claimed the previous collector had died.

But magistrates sentenced Roberts to 360 days in
prison - suspended for two years.

On at least three occasions, the mother-of-four took her
15-year-old son with her and claimed he was being treated by
the hospice, Dartford magistrates heard.

The court was told Roberts stole at least £170 over four
weeks.

Roberts had admitted six counts of fraud by false
representation as well as 15 other similar incidents, which were
taken into consideration at an earlier hearing.

Roberts was caught on CCTV going into The Ship Inn, in Green
Street Green Road, Dartford,with her son on May 13.

Landlady Wendy Head was busy serving Sunday lunches when she
struck.

Pretending to work for Demelza Hospice, she picked up the
collection tin leaving behind a fake receipt for £108.69.

And, on April 27, she visited the Falcon Cafe in Gillingham
offering space for an advert in the Demelza House newsletter
for £20. She took their Demelza charity box saying she would return
it that afternoon but never did.

Gareth Nicholls, prosecuting, said: "This is a matter which is a
series of frauds concerning charity boxes and the like.

"The principle victim is Demelza Hospice. It is a registered
charity that specialises in the care of young children up tyo the
age of 19 who unfortunately, due to the degenerative nature of
their conditions, are unlikely to get through to adulthood."

Sometime between May 3 and May 5 she went to Laydons Sweet
Shop, in Stone, claiming she was from the Kent Association for the
Blind.

Mr Nicholls said: "The elderly victim couldn't remember the time
but it was between May 3 and May 5. She had a child with her. She
transferred the money to her own box and left a receipt in the box
for £33.

"She was asked where the usual collector was and Roberts said he
had passed away and the charity should have rung her."

Michelle Roberts steals
charity tin money from a pub

Gurnam Mander, defending, said Roberts had moved from south
east London to her home in Ascot Road, Gravesend, after she failed
to keep up the mortgage repayments and her husband lost his
job in January as a Royal Mail manager.

He added her husband had been diagnosed with schizophrenia
and she had built up debts.

He said: "It is an emotive matter. She hasn't attempted to deny
any of these matters. She fully accepts it and did from the
start."

He added: "It is fair to say she is a woman of previous good
character with no convictions.

"She has worked as a carer. She has family members who have been
cared for by charities as well.

"It may be more hard to understand how she could commit these
offences."

He said: "She can't believe she stooped this low."

He added that because of her feelings of guilt she
put £200 in a charity box in Morrisons.

It took magistrates more than an hour and a half to reach a
decision on how to sentence Roberts.

They sentenced her to 180 days in prison for two
charges, suspended for two years to run consecutively, and 180 days
for each of the other four charges, to run concurrently. It
means she would could spend a total of 360 days in prison
if she commits another offence in the next two years.

Roberts must complete 200 hours of unpaid community work.
She must pay compensation of £137.69 to Demelza as well as another
£53. She must pay £33 to Kent Association for the Blind, £10 to
Cancer Research, £30 to London Air Ambulance, £32 to children's
charity CLIC Sargent, and £31 to Kent Air Ambulance. Additionally
she must pay £85 court costs.

Magistrate Dipak Patel said: "There is a lot of help and things
which you could have done. These matters are very serious.

"The victims are of particular vulnerable groups of people and
they are of similar financial difficulties as what you were in.

"So that makes it even more serious. This was a very pre-planned
operation. It is not on the spur of the moment. It is well
organised.

"You had folders, had the leaflets. You prepared an ID which is
very sophisticated.

"You have used a child and you have to think of the impact on
that child."

He added: "This has happened over a long period of time. It is
not like a one off or one day. It is also over a large area.

"You have to think about the impact on the community and these
charities."