A Fraserburgh fraudster has been jailed after scamming her friend into handing over more than £110,000 by pretending to make a documentary about Hillary Clinton.
Anne Mulloy sat unmoved as the sheriff handed her a three-year jail term.
The trial at Peterhead Sheriff Court heard how Mulloy, 63, spun a web of lies to entice her friend, actress Helena Robinson, to hand over multiple amounts of cash between 2011 and 2017.
Mulloy – who is also known as Anne Leuser – claimed she knew Hillary Clinton and would be getting behind-the-scenes access to her 2016 presidential campaign.
Sheriff Craig Findlater said this had been a significant fraud carried out over five and a half years.
“This was against someone who you considered to be a friend,” Sheriff Findlater said. “And for her part, she considered you to be a friend to her.
“You knew she had financial means and that she was struggling with the ill health of her father.
“You exploited her friendship and your friendship with her father to your financial gain.
“And you exploited her when her father was in his last years.”
He went on to say Mulloy still denied some of the offending, but added: “You exaggerated and embellished and continue to blame her for some of your offending.
“You do, in the report, acknowledge that you have done wrong at some point.
“Only a custodial sentence is appropriate because of the scale of the fraud, the monetary value, the length of time involved – and the impact upon the victim.”
Mulloy was previously jailed in 2017 after admitting a similar scam involving a TV production company in London.
Helena Robertson, who had been friends with Mulloy, sent her thousands of pounds between 2011 and 2017, keeping a running total of these loans on a spreadsheet.
No emotion as fraudster taken to prison
During her evidence, one of these totals was shown to the court and displayed a figure of £114,026.30, dated April 1, 2016.
Ms Robinson continued to send Mulloy money until April 2017, so the final figure must surely be higher.
The original charge claimed Mulloy had swindled her friend out of £85,710.02, but that figure was amended to simply ‘money’.
He said: “The evidence shows she is simply a cynical fraudster taking advantage of a caring friend. She told lies and fabrications.”
Mr McAllister also spoke of the fake court cases involving Aberdeenshire Council that Mulloy had fabricated as a way to put off paying her friend back.
He added: “It was just lies to scam more money from Helena.”
Mulloy was handcuffed and led away from the dock, showing no emotion as she left.
‘I’ll never recover financially from the damage that she has caused’
Speaking after the sentencing, Ms Robinson – whose professional name is Helena Breck and who appeared in EastEnders as the wife of infamous soap bad guy James Wilmott-Brown – praised the authorities for prosecuting her former friend.
She said: “I’m extremely relieved that justice has finally been served and that the person known variously as Ann Leuser/Anne Leuser/Ann Molloy/Anne Mulloy is now regarded as a serial fraudster.
“She has shown no remorse for the trust that she has abused, the pain she has caused, or the crimes that she commits.
“It has taken six-and-a-half difficult years from reporting to sentencing, and I’m grateful to Action Fraud, Police Scotland and the Procurator Fiscal’s office for taking on the case, when neither the Metropolitan Police and the City of London Police did so.
“I’ll never recover financially from the damage that she has caused, but hope that others might be protected from this callous fraudster, at least for the time that she is in prison.”
