Fake charity collection may have list of victims

Police fear scores of people could have been duped into giving money to a bogus charity collector after a list of 77 donors was found on a suspect.

The alarm was raised after a woman was held at the City Show in Wolverhampton a week ago when members of the public complained a person was collecting for a Cannock charity without proof of identity.

The woman involved alleged that she was working for The Newlife Foundation, a legitimate organisation that raises cash for disabled children. She tried to pass off a print-out from its website as ID.

Police investigating the incident then discovered a list of 77 people who had supposedly made donations to the cause through the suspect.

Details of those allegedly involved were too sketchy for officers to trace them but the inquiry was stepped up after reports that a woman matching the description of the person detained at West Park's City Show had collected for charity in pubs and on street corners in Wolverhampton city centre.

There are now fears that a con may have been operating in the area for up to 12 months and officers are appealing for information from anybody who has given money in suspicious circumstances to a woman posing as a charity collector.

Pc Helen Mountford, who is based in Whitmore Reans, said the Newlife Foundation had no knowledge of any such collections. Sheila Brown OBE, Newlife Foundation chief executive officer, said: "It is outrageous to think that someone would deliberately set out to cash in on children's suffering to satisfy their own greed. "

A woman in her 40s is currently on police bail pending further inquiries.