Teenage girl who posed as policewoman to repeatedly dupe autistic man out of more than £500 given suspended sentence

By Daily Mail Reporter

Published: 07:59 EDT, 16 June 2012 | Updated: 09:30 EDT, 16 June 2012

Shannon Davenport was given a suspended sentence for the scam

A teenager posed as a policewoman so she could continually dupe a trusting autism sufferer into giving her money.

Shannon Davenport, 19, targeted Ed Ho after meeting him at a railway station, Guildford Crown Court was told.

Over the next few days she took his bank card and made repeated visits to his home, while trying, on dozens of occasions, to withdraw money from his account.

A judge described her actions as 'a disgraceful course of trickery on a vulnerable victim'.

Prosecutor Richard Elliott explained how Davenport came across Mr Ho on March 24 last year at the station in Camberley, Surrey.

'He was spoken to by Miss Davenport,' he said. 'She told him she was a member of rail staff [for the British Transport Police] and she was able to use her pass to get half-price first class tickets for his journey,' said Mr Elliott.

'He declined. She then said because he had wasted her time a fine had been imposed of £20 pounds. He paid her the £20 pounds.'

According to the prosecution she continued to trick him and told him she required a further £20 and would need to take his card for forensic examination because of an alleged railway scam.

'She also demanded his PIN and this was given to Miss Davenport,' said Mr Elliott.

The fraudster then pressed on, ordering her victim to give her his name and address, claiming it was so she could return his debit card when she had completed her investigation.

That evening, in the space of just four hours, there were 19 transactions or attempted transactions involving Mr Ho’s card, resulting in him losing £60 pounds.

In the early hours of the following day a taxi driver in Aldershot, Hampshire, collected Davenport from Tiffany’s nightclub.

When she tried to pay with the stolen card the driver noticed it had not been signed and was in the real owner’s name.

She replied to the driver and said it belonged to her father, who had since passed away.

Later the same day another 33 attempts were made to get cash on the same card, with just £3.19 pounds taken.

On March 26 she visited her victim’s home, claiming she was an undercover police officer who was trying to prove his innocence in the rail scam.

Over the next few days she allegedly made further visits to him, demanding more and more notes for examination, while also trying to withdraw more cash, even using his new card to get money.

Mr Elliott said: 'There were 92 transactions which took place while the card was believed to be in the possession of Shannon Davenport.

'The total taken was £556.69 pounds.'

As Mr Elliott outlined the prosecution’s case on the later frauds, Davenport became tearful in the dock and kept mouthing: 'I didn’t,' shaking her head and trying to attract her barrister’s attention.

A judge at Guildford Crown Court gave Shannon Davenport an 18 month suspended sentence

Kevin Izod, defending, said in mitigation: 'Matters have moved on in her personal life.

'She is now in a long-term relationship and she now has a job, working in a call centre selling solar energy systems.

'This is a case where you have a troubled young lady but who seems to have come out at the end of all that and who says there is a change.

'She is now in a different part of the world and has cut her ties with the people she was with.'

Davenport had earlier admitted 10 counts of fraud, theft and possession of articles for use in fraud.

Judge Michael Addison said: 'It is quite plain that these offences are so serious that only a custodial sentence will do, because these were mean offences with deliberate targeting.'

However, he said taking into account the defendant’s circumstances and the change in her life since the crimes were committed, he would suspend the sentence.

He passed a sentence of six months for each offence, to run concurrently, in a Young Offenders’ Institution, suspended for 18 months.

He also ordered Davenport, now of Templar Walk, Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire, to carry out 120 hours of unpaid work in the community over the next 12 months.