A woman described by a judge as "a determined and systematic fraudster" was caught after she tried to open an account at a Worcester store.

Susan Oliver was using a false identity obtained after a woman had her handbag stolen.

Within a week of the theft in Hereford, Oliver had put her own photograph on the victim's identity card and was using it in Debenhams to con employees.

But after an alert security guard, who knew her from the past raised the alarm, she was detained outside the shop in possession of £200 of goods.

A police raid on her home in Mersey Road, Worcester, revealed five other identity cards, three missing driving licences and a set of keys belonging to the bag theft victim, said Antonie Muller, prosecuting. Oliver, 41, appealed against her sentence of 34 weeks jail for 11 offences of theft, deception and fraud imposed at Worcester Magistrates Court.

But Judge John Cavell dismissed the appeal and said her long history of dishonesty had escalated, demonstrating a degree of professionalism.

Oliver, a mother of one, had a criminal record going back to the 1980s, Worcester Crown Court heard.

Stopped outside Debenhams in September 2006, she claimed other goods she obtained totalling £218 had been passed to a relative, said Mr Muller.

Oliver used fake identities to obtain goods and services such as Sky TV and mobile phones. All the accounts were in debt.

When investigations by the companies began, she lied that those people she claimed had placed the orders had moved on from her address.

She was sentenced on November 29 last year and had spent the Christmas period in jail, away from her 11-year-old son, said Joe Kieran, defending.

He described Oliver as "sad and pathetic". She suffered from low esteem and offended for "the feel-good factor".

Custody had been distressing because her family could not afford to travel on prison visits. Mr Kieran insisted she had been punished enough and needed help from the probation service to stop further crime.

But the judge said the sentence had been a just one for serious and numerous offences.