A FORMER Worcester university student turned bungling fraudster used her housemates’ bank cards to order £1,600 worth of items in an online shopping spree.

But dippy crook Tatyana Jenkins, a former University of Worcester student, ordered the goods to be delivered to her home address and left a digital trail which made her easy to catch. The 24-year-old admitted seven charges of fraud by false representation when she appeared before magistrates in Worcester yesterday. Six different victims, the former student’s housemates, were identified in the frauds which totalled £1,668. The offences took place between November 2016 and February 2017.

Mark Hambling, prosecuting, said: “This lady was studying an attending Worcester University between those dates. What we have here is a case of breach of trust in that this lady, at some point in time, has access to the cards - credit cards - of a number of people with whom she shares accommodation.”

He said that over the time of the frauds the bank cards had been used to purchase ‘various items’ which were the delivered to her then home address in Albion Road, Willenhall which suggested ‘no sophistication’ to the frauds.

The court heard how Jenkins also had a previous conviction of theft from a meter and making a false representation from July 2017.

Magistrates asked why the case had taken so long to come to court.

Mr Hambling said: “ I don’t know the answer to that because I haven’t spoken to the police officer.” He did concede it had taken ‘an awfully long time’ to come to court. He argued that Jenkins’s actions were ‘medium culpability’. Sunil Jagatia, defending, asked that Jenkins be given full credit for her early guilty pleas after she accepted the Crown’s case ‘in full’.

“Why did she commit this offence? She said she really doesn’t have any excuse. She takes full responsibility for her actions. She simply says it was easy and she got carried away with it” said the solicitor.

He added that, not only were the items sent to her home address, but that she also left a digital trail for police to follow.

“She was never going to get away with it. It was always going to come back to her” said Mr Jagatia.

He added that she had committed no new offences since . She is single and living with her parents. Jenkins had been working as a waitress and back house assistant but had been furloughed during the pandemic. The victims have been paid back in full by the banks so no compensation order was made.

Mr Jagatia said: “She’s a different person from what she was three years ago.”

Magistrates retired to consider their verdict. They fined her £120 for each fraud. The fines would have been £180 if she had denied the offences.

The total fine was £840. She was also ordered to pay costs of £135 and a victim surcharge of £84. The total owed was £1,059.