Drug user tricked 'vulnerable' men into relationships to steal

Katy Smith stole cash from two pensioners and a television from another, as well as a tablet worth £130 from the woman who fostered her as a teenager.

She was jailed for 21 months at Wolverhampton Crown Court, having previously pleaded guilty to four counts of theft.

Smith carried out her first offence on November 18, when she showed up at the Wolverhampton home of a 76-year-old man she had held an 'intimate' relationship with, the court heard.

The 29-year-old arrived at his door asking for money while another man waited for her in a car outside.

The 76-year-old victim withdrew £250 from a cash-point and agreed to lend her £130, but she later stole the remaining £120 from his wallet back at his house.

Mr Howard Searle, prosecuting, said it had made him 'upset and angry', adding: "He wanted the £120 to lend to his own daughter."

The next day, Smith arrived at the house of another man, aged 70, who she had known for five years, asking to use the toilet.

He invited her in and trusted her to wait for him while he went to buy a newspaper. But when he returned he found she had stolen his £300 television.

Smith was arrested the next day and on February 13 was given conditional bail at Wolverhampton Crown Court.

But only six days later she struck again, this time targetting Dorothy Moore, who had been her foster mother between the ages of 14 and 16.

Smith showed up at the 59-year-olds's Wolverhampton home, again asking to borrow money.

When she was refused, Smith snatched a tablet worth £130 and ran into a waiting car, with Ms Moore unable to stop her.

And on March 2, Smith struck up conversation with a 69-year-old man she had not met before and he gave her a lift home, also agreeing to lend her enough money to buy a drink with.

In the early hours of the morning she returned to his address and asked to borrow another £50, which he gave her, accepting an 'IOU' note signed 'Katie Price' in return.

But while at his home, Smith stole another £115 from a Pringles tin in his bathroom.

Mr Chris O'Gorman, defending, said it was a sad case of history repeating itself.

"The defendant was taken away from her parents when she was just a few days old," she said.

"She has made a very good job of making a mess of her life and when things have got too bad for her she has turned on people who she had built up relationships with."

The court heard Smith had a string of similar offences to her name, dating back to 2006, some of which she had committed in order to pay for class A drugs.

Sentencing her, Judge Nicholas Webb said: "The way you work is to offer sex to elderly people and then to steal from them."

Smith, of Longfield House, Tithe Croft, Heath Town, Wolverhampton, was sentenced to nine months in prison for the first and second offences, to run concurrently.

She received a further 12 months for the third and fourth offences, also to run concurrent with one another and to be served consecutively with the other jail terms, making her total sentence 21 months.

She was also given a life-long restraining order preventing her from contacting Ms Moore.