A drug addict mum-of-three who was branded a “predator” for targeting elderly victims has been jailed again just weeks after being let out of prison.

Jemma Dean, 30, was locked up last August for targeting vulnerable householders in Brighouse and Wyke with her sob stories in order to obtain money for drugs, but after being released on licence in April she conned two more elderly women into giving her cash.

Bradford Crown Court heard today (Thurs) how Dean’s latest victims aged 73 and 86 both lived in Wyke and were targeted by her during a 10-day period last month. She has now been jailed for two years.

Prosecutor Caroline Abraham told Judge Jonathan Rose that Dean, who was said to be homeless at the time, turned up at her first victim’s home on the evening of May 3 saying her car had broken down.

The complainant let Dean use her phone to call a taxi, but she then asked to borrow the £17.50 fare.

The unsuspecting householder said she trusted Dean to come back to return the money and she did visit again the next day, but Dean claimed to only have a £50 note and she did not come back after the pensioner said she couldn’t change it.

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On May 13 Dean went to the home of the 86-year-old victim at teatime and again claimed to have broken down.

Miss Abraham said Dean asked for £30 for a taxi so she could pick up her children in Halifax and the complainant was shown a credit card with the defendant’s name on it.

Dean returned to the house later that night, but again claimed to only have a £50 note.

Bradford Crown Court
Bradford Crown Court

She was arrested by police at the end of last month and a drug test revealed the presence of cocaine and opiates.

Dean, of no fixed abode, admitted two offences of fraud by false representation and two allegations of breaching her five-year Criminal Behaviour Order.

Judge Rose, who described Dean as a predator last summer, said she had an appalling record and it was clear she had chosen a lifestyle that depended on her taking other people’s property.

He said there was no excuse for her dreadful offending and she had seen her victims as “easy targets”.

He told a tearful Dean: “I take the view that the continuing and escalating offending for which you are responsible requires a more significant sentence for even if it will not deter you it will protect the public, specifically the elderly, from you preying on them in this way again.”

The judge also imposed a new five-year CBO which bans her from going to homes and asking for money.