'Don't test me' warns judge after Telford fraudster's bail breach
A fraudster who conned her friend out of almost £6,000 for modelling work that never materialised has narrowly avoided prison after breaching her suspended sentence.
Lauren Paget, who scammed Ruth Gililand-Simon out of money inherited after the death of her grandfather, was sentenced to 46 weeks behind bars, suspended for 18 months, in January this year.
She was also ordered to carry out 180 hours of unpaid work, but failed to turn up to a number of sessions.
She pleaded guilty at Shrewsbury Crown Court to breaching her suspended sentence.
She had promised her friend that she could find her modelling photo-shoot appointments that would pay between £6,000 and £15,000.
The fraud related to a period between November 2015 and September 2016.
Judge Anthony Lowe said to Paget: "When I sentenced you I remember saying that it was a very unpleasant offence and you were very lucky not to get an immediate custodial sentence.
"I have the power to do that today. Why do you say I shouldn't?"
Paget, of Waverley in Brookside, Telford, said she had a doctors appointment on one of the days and had suffered a slipped disc in her back.
But Judge Lowe pointed out that before this one of her unpaid work employers had to send her away because she was unreliable.
He said: "I was very close to sending you away (to prison) the last time. Don't test me again."
Judge Lowe extended the time her 46 weeks in prison is suspended for to 21 months.
