Conwoman and her son steal nearly £20,000 from the elderly

Monday 12th December 2011 10:34am

A woman has been conning elderly people in Newcastle out of thousands of pounds by pretending to be a council social worker.

Mary Conners persuaded elderly people that she was offering specialist mobility equipment, such as specially designed wheelchairs to gain access to their homes.

She employed her own son, William O’Conner to help her in her heist. Whilst she kept the target busy, her son would go through the house to find money and other valuables.

In a matter of weeks, the pair of confidence tricksters invaded 20 homes and had made off with over £17,000 in cash.

Coral Affleck, Director of 1st Choice Stairlifts said, “This is a tragic story, which demonstrates how important it is for elderly people to ask for identification from anyone claiming to be a council or company representative.

“1st Choice Stairlifts are members of the British Healthcare Trades Association (BHTA) and the Office of Fair Trade (OFT). All our company representatives carry identification on their person to offer our customers reassurance that they are from a certified company which adheres to British Healthcare Trading Standards.”

Mary Conners has previously been investigated for a £1.3m money laundering scheme in Northampton when she was seen on a surveillance camera.

The conning duo was spotted on a CCTV camera when her car’s registration plate was picked up automatically because of her previous criminal record.

A police investigation was mounted in four police areas to gather evidence of the confidence scheme. During a police raid on Mary Conners’ house, £10,000 was found buried in her garden.

Mary Conners also admitted to several other crimes committed in the 18 months prior to this particular scheme.

They have been sentenced for a total of 10 years. Mary Conners got 6 years for her part in the thefts and William O’Conner got 4 years for his involvement in 3 of the raids in which they took £6,500.

Det Supt Alan Turner, who was in charge of the operation against the Conners has said, “This investigation highlights the advantages of Operation Bombay, a regional collaboration of forces to tackle this particular type of crime…

“This sort of offending is deplorable and I hope this demonstrates that people taking advantage of the elderly and vulnerable in our communities will not be tolerated and we’ll continue to do all we can to trace those responsible.”

Mary Conners has shown the police the house which she targeted. The police are now working to ensure the victims receive a proportion of the cash seized.

Information sourced from Journal Live.co.uk