Prison for student's forgeries

An accountancy student who forged her parents' signatures to pay tens of thousands of pounds in gambling debts has been jailed for nine months after spurning a chance to keep her freedom.

Jayna Patel, of Wolverhampton, was locked up after repeatedly breaking the terms of the suspended sentence she had originally been given for the fraud. The 24-year-old wept in the dock at Wolverhampton Crown Court yesterday.

She pleaded for another chance but was told by Recorder David Aucott: "It is too late for that. You have been dealt with in a generous and merciful way but this is the second breach of an order you should have complied with and now you must go to prison."

Patel, from Wardlow Close off Goldthorn Hill, used the internet to apply for bank accounts, loans and credit cards in her parents' names, between March and December 2007.

She then intercepted their post and forged their signatures to authorise the accounts before using online banking to make payments. She also spent £1,800 on a credit card while pretending to be her mother.

The court heard yesterday how Patel twice failed to turn up for appointments for the 150 hours of unpaid work she had been given as part of the one-year suspended sentence imposed in July last year.

She had admitted six counts of fraud totalling £21,129 and asked for a further 14 similar offences involving another £21,998 to be taken into consideration. Patel completed just 34 hours of the unpaid work sentence.

Miss Sarah Hurd, defending, said Patel had since beaten her gambling addiction that brought her down.