A conwoman who helped a friend pose as a police officer and a social worker to defraud vulnerable pensioners has been jailed.

Emma Fuggles of Roseholme, Maidstone, made off with a total of more than £700 from two elderly victims.

She helped habitual offender Kathleen Perry, 57, who knocked on the man's door in Maidstone pretending to be a police officer, saying she could arrest him for sexual assault if he didn't hand over his bank card and PIN number.

He handed over both to Perry, who has a long history of duping elderly and vulnerable people.

She got in a car and was driven by Fuggles to a nearby ATM at a McColl's shop and withdrew two lots of £250.

Perry returned the card to the elderly man and said she would be back the next day but the man called his family to say he thought he had been robbed.

The fraud happened in September, but just a month before she had duped the pensioner Perry targeted another vulnerable 69-year-old, a woman who also lives alone in Maidstone.

This time, Perry knocked on her door and pretended to be from social services and told the woman her neighbour, who had recently died, had ordered some bedding and it needed paying for.

She told the victim the dead woman's family would reimburse her if she handed over her bank card and PIN number.

The woman did so and Perry and her associate Fuggles went to a nearby Sainsbury's Local supermarket in Tonbridge Road and used an ATM to withdraw £120.

She then put the card in again and withdrew another £100.

Both incidents were reported to police and officers viewing CCTV footage identified Perry.

When police went to her home in Acorn Place, Maidstone, they found the clothes she was wearing on the CCTV images when she withdrew the money.

Perry was arrested and later charged with theft and fraud offences and has been remanded in custody since being charged.

However, she refused to come to court from prison for her trial as she thought she was going to appear via video link.

As a result, District Judge Stephen Leake decided to continue with her trial in her absence on November 15.

Judge Leake heard from both victims in court where the elderly man said: "I didn't give permission to use the card. I thought she was taking it to her sergeant to check."

The female victim told him: "I gave her my PIN number. I thought she was from social services and I could trust her. A few minutes after she left I checked my online banking and then I cancelled the card."

During interviews, Perry mostly made no comment to officers but did name her co-defendant Fuggles as her associate and blamed her for some of the offences and even suggested the elderly man had given her the cash in exchange for sexual favours.

The judge also heard Perry has a long history of duping vulnerable and elderly people and had at least 17 convictions for fraud by false representation.

She was previously jailed at Brighton Crown Court for six years when she was 50 after being convicted of five counts of fraud and two of breaching anti-social behaviour orders in relation to preying on elderly victims.

After hearing all the evidence, Judge Leake said he was sure the person who targeted both victims was Perry and he found her guilty of all the charges against her.

He said: "Ms Perry did this with the intent to obtain the bank cards. She has a very long record and I am sending the case to crown court for committal to sentence."

Perry was found guilty of four theft offences in relation to withdrawing the cash and two of fraud by representation in relation to claiming to be from social services and the police when she targeted both victims. A date is yet to be set for Perry's sentencing.

Now, her co-defendant, Fuggles, who had already admitted her part in the incidents last year, has been sentenced to two years and four months’ imprisonment.

Investigating officer, DC Mark Beeching of Maidstone Criminal Investigation Department said: "Fuggles repeatedly exploited vulnerable members of the community for her own financial gain.

"What’s worse, in both instances she brazenly returned to the scene of the crime to take further advantage of her victims.

"Fuggles is a prolific offender with a history of criminal activity, so it is right that she serves time behind bars after failing to amend her ways."