Student jailed for using flatmate's credit card to pay for cosmetic treatment loses appeal
A student who burgled a flatmate's room and used her credit card details to pay for cosmetic treatments will stay in jail after losing an appeal.
Ayesha Pudden, originally from Wolverhampton, memorised her fellow Westminster University student's card details while she was away at Christmas in 2013.
Pudden, aged 22, then used the Chinese woman's accounts to pay for lip and nose treatments at a London clinic.
She was jailed for two years in February after admitting fraud and burglary at Snaresbrook Crown Court.
But this week her lawyers went to the Court of Appeal in a bid to have her released - only to have their appeal thrown out by three senior judges.
Mr Justice Globe said there was nothing wrong with a prison sentence for the serious crimes which Pudden had admitted.
"It cannot reasonably be argued that a total sentence of two years for all her offending was manifestly excessive," he said.
The court heard Pudden suffered from low self-esteem, caused by difficult experiences in her upbringing and an unpleasant skin condition.
Pudden helped a group of others to burgle the Chinese woman's room while she was at her family home in her native country.
Having obtained a key card to the room in Frying Pan Alley, Spitalfields, she let the others in to steal £16,000 worth of property.
When the Chinese student returned, she challenged Pudden, who admitted what she had done.
It was then that the credit card fraud was unveiled. She admitted memorising the numbers to spend the student's money on cosmetic treatments.
Her barrister, John Cooper QC, argued at the Court of Appeal that her sentence was too tough.
It failed to reflect her troubled background, he said, including the skin disease from which she suffers and which explained the fraud.
"It is no coincidence that some of the money used from the credit card was used for cosmetic treatment to her face," he said.
She had also found it difficult to cope in prison, had been diagnosed with severe depression, and recently self-harmed, he said.
But Mr Justice Globe, sitting with Lord Justice Hamblen and Judge John Wait, said a non-custodial sentence was not justified.
"Notwithstanding the personal circumstances and mitigation available to her, we are satisfied that an immediate custodial sentence was necessary," he said.
"The application must be refused."
