Ex-prostitute grandmother jailed after using bank cards of 'torture victim'

Valerie Williams carried out five transactions involving goods worth £112 within hours of the man being found tied up and badly injured, a judge heard.

The 42-year-old defendant, who has worked as a prostitute in the past, had nothing to do with the attack but received the cards she used on June 10 2018 from one of her clients, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.

No details of the "very violent" incident can be reported because two men are currently awaiting trial in connection with it.

The defendant, who has four grandchildren, was identified through CCTV images of the bank cards being used but did not turn up for her case and magistrates convicted her in her absence of fraud by false representation.

On May 10 this year she stole a bank card from a vulnerable 65-year-old man she had befriended after being allowed into his Glebe Street, Walsall home, said Mr Geoffrey Dann, prosecuting.

She made contactless purchases worth £129 the same day before withdrawing a further £250 cash using the man's PIN number two days later. Her next attempt was rejected.

The housing association in charge of the sheltered accommodation where the man, who has mobility difficulties, lives alerted police and changed the locks on the address but Williams managed to get back into the property under the ruse of wanting to do his washing on June 1, the court was told.

During the visit she stole a bag of cash holding around £30, revealed the prosecutor.

The victim told in a statement of the disappointment and anger he felt towards the defendant whom he had tried to help while she was homeless and hooked on drugs.

Williams, now from Woodhouse, Little London, Walsall, confessed to the court: "I am deeply sorry for the pain I have caused which has made him scared to be in his own home.

"I abused his kindness and feel ashamed of myself."

Mr Oliver Woolhouse, defending, maintained: "Her life spiralled out of control after she became addicted to drugs."

The defendant explained she had been homeless and had worked as a prostitute in the past but was now clear of drugs and optimistic of getting a job on her release from prison.

Judge Rhona Campbell jailed her after she pleaded guilty to failing to surrender to bail, burglary and fraud by false representation.

She was also made the subject of a restraining order banning any contact with the victim for five years.