A PENSIONER was conned out of more than £200 by a mother-of-one who pretended to do various odd jobs around the house while she was sick in hospital, a court was told.

Helen Hothersall, aged 42, of Chapmans Orchard, Hanley Swan, near Malvern, admitted one charge of fraud at Worcester Crown Court after asking 84-year-old Barbara Barnes for £228 ‘payment’ for work she had not done.

She was ordered to pay a £200 fine, plus repay the full amount to Miss Barnes. The scam took place between June 11 and August 15, 2011, while Miss Barnes was ill in hospital, the court was told.

Prosecutor Michael Conry told the court that Miss Barnes, of Malvern, used to get her hair done by Hothersall in a salon.

When Hothersall left, she continued to do Miss Barnes' hair privately, and soon began to start doing odd jobs around the house for which Miss Barnes would pay her, he said.

She even gave Miss Barnes a lift to the hospital – but during the pensioner's two-month stay, she claimed she had done work including servicing the lawnmower and repairing the drainage overflow, and accepted money for it. It was only when Miss Barnes’s brother visited and spotted the work had not been done that the scam came to light. “Miss Barnes depended on her loyalty and honesty. She was let down,” Mr Conry said.

In mitigation, defence solicitor Simon Burns told the court that Hothersall suffered with ill health including asthma, depression, arthritis and epilepsy.

He said she genuinely cared for Miss Barnes and accepted that she should not have accepted the money. “She is extremely apologetic. She did not wish any ill to Barbara Barnes,” he said.

Recorder, Adrian Redgrave QC, said it was a “great shame” Hothersall chose to abuse the position of trust. "I approach this case on the basis that you did not engineer the situation, but took advantage of it, and in effect stole from Miss Barnes,” he said. “In your favour it is quite clear that over years and years you helped her. It is a great shame that you abused that position.”

Last year, Hothersall was given an eight-week prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, after a knife was found down the back of her trousers when she went to her ex-partner's house.