Serial conwoman back behind bars following string of frauds
Emma Charlton, formerly known as Emma Golightly, wove a web of deceit in an attempt to fleece her grandmother and fiance out of £150,000 (€166,000).
The 25-year-old, of Walkerville, Newcastle, used stolen cheques in an attempt to book a lavish £73,000 (€80,000) wedding at a country house hotel.
She told staff at Slaley Hall Hotel in Northumberland she was the editor of Vogue magazine, even carrying a miniature dog to complete the illusion.
She told her fiance Neil Lupton she was a highly successful businesswoman who ran a chain of photographic studios, claiming her father was a judge and that she had been married to a Greek soldier.
He believed she was terminally ill with cancer and was conned into booking for her the service of a carer for two days a week.
When he grew suspicious after a series of cheques she’d written bounced, she claimed the bank had frozen her account after burglars ransacked her Leeds photographic office.
She told him she had been adopted in Africa when he grew suspicious after noting her age did not match the date of birth on her passport.
Newcastle Crown Court heard Charlton was snared by police after she used stolen cheques to pay for a charity fashion show using models with cancer at the Hilton Hotel in Gateshead, which never took place.
Prosecutor Carl Gumsley said it was not clear what happened to all the money Charlton had conned, but she had used it to pay for foreign holidays and currency, and goods including food, jewellery and bedding, much of which she exchanged for cash at a Cash Converters shop.
Charlton wrote 19 cheques to a total of £126,387.90 using her grandmother’s chequebook and nine cheques using her fiance’s chequebook, totalling £28,402.
She also admitted making an online loan application with Alliance and Leicester in her fiance’s name to obtain £8,000. Charlton’s victims suffered losses of £38,000, as many cheques were not honoured.
Mitigating, Michael Hodson said Charlton was a deeply troubled woman who suffered from a personality disorder brought on by low self-esteem.
Golightly spoke only to confirm her name.
She admitted 23 charges of fraud and theft committed between September 2008 and May 2009. She broke down in tears and began to hyperventilate as she was sentenced.
Charlton was first exposed as a serial love rat and conwoman when she was jailed in 2007 for two years for plundering the bank accounts of men she met through lonely hearts ads.
She met her victims, seduced them and stole their cash, spending the money on exotic holidays, chauffeur-driven cars and expensive hotels and restaurants.
Golightly told one victim she was a multi-millionaire company boss and even told would-be husbands that she was dying of cancer so they would marry her.
The extent of her crime spree, including more than 80 offences, was worth £254,000, including £208,000 on fast cars.
