The defendant, Maria Marston, was found guilty of defrauding an elderly, vulnerable friend who she had befriended when she was a teenager.
Ms Marston had endured a horrendous childhood and the victim had helped her. Marston had been adopted at the age of 7 weeks and suffered abuse at the hands of her adopted mother’s partners. She later found her birth mother, whose partner began to take money from her over a period of years. She was forced to remortgage her home and was in significant financial trouble.
Marston then began lying to the victim and took a series of loans from her, stating she would repay the money as she had a trust fund in place. Over £50,000 was taken. The matter came to the attention of the Insolvency Service who made the defendant bankrupt and then subject to the fraud charges.
The defendant repaid a lot of the money prior to her sentence. Ecky Tiwana defended.
To read more about this case, visit https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/leicester-news/shamed-fraudster-tricked-elderly-widow-5585515
