21p in her bank after giving cousin her life savings to pay for new friends.Karen Devonport, 58, scammed Susan Marshall out of her £47,000 nest egg through 44 different loans.She promised to pay the woman back when her £65,000 divorce settlement came through – but her cousin had no idea that it came through a year prior and she had already spend it.The Sunderland woman will now spend two years and four months in prison after pleading guilty to fraud.The first loan was given in April 2019, Alec Burns, prosecuting, told Newcastle Crown Court.He said: “She asked for £8,000 for her daughter’s wedding, but as it happens someone else had already paid for the wedding.“The defendant told her she was due a divorce settlement of £65,000 but in the near future and she would pay her back from that but as it turned out, she had already had that money for a year and had already spent it.”No details of exactly how she spent the money on making others go out with her were given, but it was told that she spent a £3,000 on setting up a new nail bar.Susan said in an impact statement: “Karen would tell me she was desperate, she needed the money and promised to pay me back once she received her divorce settlement.“I had no reason not to believe Karen or the reasons she needed the money. I believed the money would be returned.
