A con artist who stole more than £32,000 from an equestrian magazine’s advertisers has been jailed for four years.

Charmaine McAllister blew the money on several cars, cosmetic surgery, designer clothing and hotel stays.

The 31-year-old was previously described by a judge as a ‘plague to the whole horse industry’ and banned from every equestrian event in England and Wales after stealing from female riders.

During her latest crime spree, she scammed people using the name of Horse & Hound, the oldest equestrian weekly magazine in the UK, by pretending she worked in its advertising department.

Charmaine McAllister in court

In May, she pleaded guilty to 15 counts of fraud, one count of receiving stolen goods and one count of breach of a criminal behaviour order and on Monday she appeared at Leeds Crown Court for sentencing.

The court heard how she would identify victims through adverts placed in the publication, contact them and tell them that their payments for the adverts had not gone through.

She would get them to relay their bank details again and then go on a spending spree.

Her fleet of cars included two Vauxhall Astras, a Citroen DS3 and a Seat Ibiza.

She stayed in hotels in Burnley and Trowbridge and bought clothing from Ralph Lauren and John Lewis.

McAllister, who has changed her surname to Rowan but also uses around 15 different names, conned five women and two men between November 29 last year and January 15 this year.

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In doing so, she breached an indefinite criminal behaviour order banning her from contacting a person who has advertised horse, pony or related equipment for sale.

It was imposed in June 2015 at Sheffield Crown Court, where Judge Peter Kelson described her as a ‘menace to all things equestrian’, and included a ban on attending any equestrian events in England and Wales.

McAllister had pleaded guilty to 45 fraud and theft offences and was jailed for 56 months.

She was released in September 2017 but within two months she was back to defrauding people. She was on licence until January 2020.

She also withdrew £1,600 from an 88-year-old woman’s bank account after she had her handbag stolen from Costa Coffee in Huddersfield, bringing the grand total to £32,086.

The career fraudster, of Manchester Road in Milnsbridge, has 31 convictions for more than 100 offences.

Rachel Smith, mitigating, said the mum-of-three lost her job because of her convictions and needed to pay £200 per month in maintenance for her children.

Recorder Graeme Cook said: “This was no ordinary type of fraud, you were well-versed in how to carry out this type of fraud, having received a prison sentence for similar offending before.”

He sentenced her to four years’ imprisonment, of which she will have to serve half before being eligible for release. It will run concurrently to her current sentence, meaning she will now be eligible for release in July 2020.