Cliff Richard fan steals thousands from pensioner

A Cliff Richard fan has admitted swindling tens of thousands of pounds out of an elderly woman – to spend on bills and the superstar’s merchandise.
Suzanne Hubbard has pleaded guilty to five counts of fraud and theft, taking almost £70,000 from the same elderly lady between March 2006 and June 2011.
The charges include various transactions such as a payment of £60 to the DVLA, £246 to Virgin Media and £396 to buy goods from The Cliff Richard – the Summer Holiday singer’s official website.
The 40-year-old pleaded guilty to fraudulently using the pensioner’s Lloyds TSB debit card and spending £5,396 between March 21, 2006, and February 1, 2011.
She also pleaded guilty to using the Lloyds TSB debit card at an ATM between September 19, 2009, and June 9, 2011 withdrawing a total of £13,297 in that timeframe.
Hubbard has admitted stealing cheques to the total value of £15,232 between April 12, 2007 and September 9, 2010.
She also stole a further £35,460 between September 26, 2007, and March 28, 2011.
The defendant also admitted a further charge of fraudulently carrying out financial transactions on the elderly victim’s HSBC current account between March 23, 2010, and April 20, 2010.
Although Hubbard, of Haden Way, Willingham, has pleaded guilty to the five counts that total £69,971, she denies that she stole and fraudulently took the amounts that the Crown has stated in the charges.
A sentencing hearing has been provisionally set for September 24 at the Crown court.
The Cliff Richard merchandise ranged from mugs, key rings, T-shirts and silky cushion covers displaying the singer’s image to the star’s very own wine, calendars, CDs, concert DVDs.
This case comes to light following a number of cases where people have taken advantage of elderly people including Mahletchimi Ramudu, 53, and her two daughters, Angela Davis and Jessica Mahatevan who stole £274,000 of life savings from an 83-year-old war hero as they posed as friendly helpers.
Ramudu, of Stanley Road, Abbey, was jailed for five years, Davis, 27, of Mortlock Avenue, East Chesterton, for three, and Mahatevan, 18, who lived with her mother, was sentenced to 18 months in a young offenders’ institution.