A FRAUDSTER stole nearly £400,000 from victims, and depriving several people of their life savings, by offering them a fake investment scheme over five years.

Jay Delaney, 32, of Baxter Avenue, Southend, left one man bankrupt and taking the life savings of several others, after promising high returns on an investments scheme while lying about working for the Royal Bank of Scotland and insurance firm Aviva.

A number of the victims were her close friends.

She conned 38 victims out of £388,000 from 2015 to 2020, and gambled away money in the hope she could give the returns she promised.

She appeared at Basildon Crown Court yesterday, charged with 38 counts of fraud and was jailed.

Prosecuting, Janet Weeks said: “She offered people a 6.5 per cent return on a currency exchange investment scheme.

“These were people of relatively modest means. Most lost their life savings and one man was left bankrupt.

“She told police it was all drawn up by two men she met in the pub and she was reporting back to them.”

She told the court Delaney was arrested in April 2019 but she kept on conning people out their money until 2020.

Mitigating, Christopher Martin said: “She became a gambling addict in her teenage years which resurfaced at the time of the offences.

“She’s always felt she’s less in people’s eyes and suffers with depression and anxiety. She is also waiting for an assessment for bipolar disorder.

“There was no lavish lifestyle and she was gambling away the money from some to pay others back.

“She did meet two men in a Southend pub who got her into the scheme and she was so impressed with the 100 per cent return they got her to encourage others to get involved.”

Delaney sat in court sobbing and wailing during the hearing at the crown court and shouted “Love you” to family members in the public gallery as she was taken down to the cells.

Sentencing, Judge Samantha Cohen said it was a sophisticated fraud scheme. She told Delaney: “You preyed on friends and colleagues some of whom saw you as family.

“You dishonestly took almost £400,000 from people and lied about where you worked. The harm you caused is very, very significant and you betrayed people.”

She was sentenced to four years and eight months in jail.