Woman jailed over pensioner con

A Burgess Hill woman who conned a partially-sighted pensioner out of £16,000 has been jailed for four months.

Laundry firm boss Annette O'Sullivan, 39, of Newport Road, did washing and ironing for 70-year-old Daphne Oake-Fox, who lives in Haywards Heath.

The pensioner could not fill in cheques to pay for the service and trusted O'Sullivan to complete them for her.

O'Sullivan admitted three counts of forgery and three of obtaining property by deception at Lewes Crown Court.

Blank cheques

The court heard that the frail pensioner would sign a blank cheque and hand it to the mother-of-two to complete.

But O'Sullivan filled in the cheques with amounts of up to £1,000 for the service which cost £10 to £20, the court was told.

The judge heard that Mrs Oake-Fox felt "anxious and depressed" after being let down by somebody she trusted.

The court also heard the pensioner had been left £700 overdrawn by the con.

Judge Guy Anthony told O'Sullivan that not sending her to prison would send out the "wrong message" to those who con elderly people out of money.