A CARER who made more than £4,500 by selling fictitious caravan holidays on Facebook with an array of fake accounts has been jailed.

Rebecca Newcombe, 21, of Canterbury Road, Beaufort, Ebbw Vale, appeared at Newport Crown Court on Tuesday, November 20 for sentencing.

She pleaded guilty on a previous appearance to 25 counts of fraud by false representation at Cardiff Crown Court on Thursday, October 19. She pleaded not guilty to three charges.

The court heard that Newcombe sold 25 bogus breaks, taking payments ranging from £25 to £580, from single parents and patients recovering from or with serious illnesses living as far away as Middlesbrough.

Prosecuting, Nick Gedge said that the 21-year-old received a total of £4,543.64 from customers, although she refunded £30 to one client.

“Just transfer all you’ve got in the bank,” said Mr Gedge, recounting what Newcombe told one client who could not afford the £100 deposit, transferring £74.64 instead.

Mr Gedge added that Newcombe used fake aliases including Paige Marie, Jamie Thomas, Kelly Louise Watkins and Becky O’Connell when talking to clients over Facebook messenger.

“Her first interview took place on January 20, 2016. She denied having any knowledge of the caravan based fraud,” added Mr Gedge.

“She said she knew Kelly Louise Watkins. She had been at college with her and she lived in the Abergavenny area.

“She was released on bail at the end of the interview.”

However, the story began to unravel a year later when Newcombe was interviewed again by police officers on March 2, and admitted that she had made Kelly Louise Watkins up, the court heard.

“A significant amount of the offending was committed at a time when the defendant had been interviewed and released on bail,” said Mr Gedge, adding there was a “significant degree of sophistication and planning”.

Defending, Jeff Jones said by the time of the final police interview on July 17, Newcombe – previously of clean character – was forced to face up to her deceit.

“It was a merry dance,” said Mr Jones, “The merry dance came to an end with the final interview.”

Mr Jones added that Newcombe was a primarily carer for her mother and received £67.20 in carer’s allowance, but had been refused jobseeker’s allowance.

The barrister said that Newcombe had been driven to offending not through peer pressure but by trying to emulate those of her age.

Concluding, judge J Furness QC told Newcombe that her actions had more wide-reaching consequences than the 25 people she defrauded.

“Your excuses for holidays going wrong or not being able to happen involved sick children, sick members of your family and road traffic accidents,” said Mr Furness QC.

He added that on one occasion, she threatened one of her customers who tried to expose the scam to others on Facebook.

“The offences were mean. They were persistent and you persisted with them while you were on bail.”

Newcombe received a nine month sentence concurrent for each of the 25 offences and she will be released on licence midway through a term.