These con artists and swindlers were all jailed for their dishonest greed - tricking their victims out of thousands.
One of them stole over £230K from while working at Barnsley Animal Rescue Centre.
In one case a Sheffield man misdirected £200,000 of employee wages into his own bank account.
1. Kevin Proctor
Proctor, 62, stole over £230K from while working at Barnsley Animal Rescue Centre. He created false invoices to various organisations, and paid them straight into his own bank account. He began working at the charity in 2012, initially walking the dogs, cleaning kennels, and as a van driver. He then became treasurer and had sole responsibility for the finances of the charity. Judge Jeremy Richardson KC told him: “You breached that trust in grotesque fashion." | SYP
2. Michael Smith
Smith travelled from London to Rotherham to carry out a ‘courier fraud’ by phoning his victims and telling them to be ready to hand over items for safekeeping, He called at a house on Fernleigh Drive and took bank cards and PIN numbers from a couple in their 80s. He then used the same trick to take jewellery worth £25,000 from a 64-year-old woman on Cotswold Crescent. Smith returned to London where he used the bank cards to withdraw thousands of pounds in cash. He was jailed for two years and eight months at Sheffield Crown Court. | SYP
3. Laura Cunningham
Cunningham pocketed £32,000 in benefits by pretending she still lived alone. She told the DWP in March 2022 she was a single woman living with her children in Mexborough in order to claim Universal Credit. However, when she was questioned by police in September 2024, officers asked why her partner appeared to be staying at her home full time, and why the two cars in the drive were in his name. Cunningham was handed a six month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months. | Iconic
4. Andrew Webster
Webster, aged 47, pilfered over £20,000 from an old pal by offering to line-up a house purchase with a fictitious solicitor and pocketing the scam mortgage repayments himself. He took monthly payments of £500 from the complainant - who he had known for “a number of years” - for over three years. A judge suspended a two-year jail term for two years, ordering Webster to pay £16,000 compensation from his savings. | Iconic