Fraudster fails to cut jail term
A Shropshire woman who fleeced her fiance, relatives and officials of a struggling charity out of nearly £500,000 deserved every day of her six-year jail term, Appeal Court judges ruled today.
Sheron Lewis was jailed at Shrewsbury Crown Court in May after admitting 36 counts of theft and deception relating to offences against her aunt and uncle - Robert and Elizabeth Banks -her fiance Simon Tipton and the Listen and Care self-help charity for which he worked.
Lewis, of Victoria Avenue, Wellington, obtained the money between 2002 and 2006, with a total loss of nearly £500,000.
Her total benefit was about half that amount.
Mr Justice Field, sitting with Mr Justice Lloyd Jones at London's Criminal Appeal Court, refused to cut the six-year sentence on the "venal and selfish" 35-year-old.
Mr Field said Lewis had "cruelly and cynically abused the trust of people who were very close to her" including her aunt and uncle with whom she had lived since the age of 10, and her fiance.
Mr Banks had recently retired, was partially deaf, and trusted Lewis with a free rein over the couple's bank accounts, while Mr Tipton, who was treasurer of the Listen and Care charity had a history of paranoid schizophrenia.
Mr Justice Field added: "The offending was on a wide scale.
"Its impact had a devastating effect on her aunt and uncle, and on her fiance - both financially and emotionally. Listen and Care was left in a financially precarious position."