[A] STORM Desmond flood grant fraudster has been jailed after flouting the court order she received for her “mean” crime.
Nicola Moore, 34, was handed an 18-month prison term last December at Carlisle Crown Court after being convicted of two fraud offences. A judge suspended this punishment for two years, but warned Moore not to forget the memory of being remanded in custody for several days while awaiting sentence.
She was also told to complete 250 hours’ unpaid work, having conned Cumbria Community Foundation’s floods appeal. A jury found she had lodged bogus applications for cash handouts in the aftermath of the December 2015 devastation.
However, Moore was brought back to court today (THURS), when she admitted breaching the suspended sentence order by failing to attend appointments.
She had completed only 24 of the 250 hours. And while ill health was a factor, the court heard of Moore’s chronic but “self-inflicted” alcohol problem.
Judge Peter Hughes QC was asked to give her a chance to address this difficulty, and admitted the choice facing him was “invidious”. But Judge Hughes concluded he had serious doubts about whether Moore, of Windsor Road, Workington, would commit to obtaining the help she needed.
Judge Hughes activated nine months of the original prison sentence, telling Moore her flood fraud had been “particularly mean and unattractive”.
