A WOMAN who took part in a series of cheque and credit card frauds with her then-boyfriend to feed their heroin addictions has been jailed for nine months.

Nicola Evans, aged 28, who now lives at Honeybourne Drive, Cheltenham, pleaded guilty at Warwick Crown Court to a charge of conspiracy to defraud.

Prosecutor Paul Hicken said that during the summer and autumn of 1998 there was a spate of thefts of handbags in the Stratford and Leamington areas, and cheque books and credit cards from them were used to obtain goods and services.

Mr Hicken said Evans was involved in the offences with her then-boyfriend Adam Saunders, of Flavel Crescent, Leamington, who was jailed for 33 months.

During the latter part of 1998 Evans was living with Saunders. They were both self-confessed heroin addicts who funded their habits from the stolen cheques and cards.

In September a youth on a bike snatched a handbag from an American tourist in Stratford and her American Express card was passed to Saunders. It was then used six times by Evans to obtain goods or services worth £309.

Then in November a woman had her bag snatched and her cheque book was used to obtain goods worth more than £800.

Mr Hicken said Evans, who could be directly linked to the use of cheque books and cards to obtain a total of about £1,000 worth of property, was granted bail after she and Saunders were arrested in October 1998. But she failed to turn up at court on two occasions and was not finally arrested and remanded in custody until September this year.

Brian Dean, defending, said Evans was in a heroin stupor at the time she committed the offences with Saunders, but has since moved back to Cheltenham and rebuilt her life.

She has not committed any more offences or taken drugs since she absconded, was now working as a bar manager and is engaged.