Woman pretended to be doctor and faked having a dead twin to defraud charity
A woman posed as a doctor and invented a twin who died from cancer to get a job at a bereavement charity before defrauding the business for thousands.
Stephanie Jones’ web of lies meant police were forced to approach the parents of a murdered girl to question them on claims that they had been given counselling after false invoices were submitted.
A judge in Wales named her behaviour ‘vile, unthinkable and despicable’ as she jailed her for a year.
In February 2020, Jones applied to work as an Immediate Support Co-ordinator at the 2 Wish Upon A Star charity, which supports families following the sudden loss of a child.
The 30-year-old claimed to have a PhD doctorate degree in Sociology, which entitled her to call herself Doctor when she had really taken a Masters degree at Bangor University.
On top of this, she said she had had a twin sister who died aged five from cancer – but suspicion grew when she offered ‘different versions’ of the story, Caernarfon Crown Court heard.
Her job involved referring bereaved families to counsellors and she was not a counsellor herself.
But Jones made up a counsellor called Sarah Jones with a fake company and address and charged her workplace for sessions that never happened.
Prosecutor Patrick Gartland said invoices paid to Sarah Jones were paid under the name ‘S. Jones’, but to an account which had Stephanie Jones’ sort code and account number.
Nineteen false invoices for a total of £3,570 were submitted across nine months.
The defendant also claimed she could speak seven languages which was another lie.
Elen Owen, defending, insisted that her client remembered things differently, but admitted she had ‘created something of a persona’ and there was a ‘clear element of exaggeration’.
Jones, who has since repaid all the money, was ‘in a very deep and dark place’ after a relationship breakdown, the court heard.
Before working for 2 Wish Upon A Star, she had made complaints of a domestic nature and there had also been a possible serious assault which she did not make a complaint about, it was claimed.
Her hearing also was told that she was struggling with clinical depression and had a history of self-harm and large debts.
Ms Owen added: ‘It was not a case of a pre-planned enterprise to steal. It was Ms Jones’ poor emotional state at the time that affected her thinking (and) had a significant impact on her flawed decision-making process.’
If Jones was jailed, it was ‘almost inevitable’ her mother would have to go into residential care as her parents rely on her, Ms Owen also warned.
But Judge Nicola Saffman said the defendant had brought the good name of the 2 Wish Upon A Star into ‘disrepute’ and only a jail sentence was appropriate.
Jones, from Nebo, admitted fraud by abuse of position and was jailed for 12 months.
Judge Saffman said: ‘All of this must affect the reputation of that fantastic charity which was set up to help people in their direst and darkest hour.
‘You are a chronic liar and it was an abuse of trust on extremely vulnerable individuals.’
Detective Sergeant David Hall, of North Wales Police’s Economic Crime Unit, also named Jones’ actions ‘callous in the extreme, preying on the charity who are there to help people in their hour of need’.
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