A heroin addict from Wolverhampton who blew thousands of pounds which appeared in her bank account after an email “phishing” con has been spared jail.
Emma Gill will also not have to pay any compensation to the bank whose money she illegally spent.
Wolverhampton Crown Court heard how the 25-year-old found £5,400 extra in her bank account on July 11 last year and immediately went out and spent it.
The money belonged to a man called Guy Musgrove, who was duped into giving his bank account details after opening an email purporting to be from Lloyds TSB.
Gill, of Bardwell Close, Pendeford, admitted theft but claimed she had no idea how the money arrived in her account and denied having anything to do with the scam.
Mr Mark Phillips, prosecuting, said: “Mr Musgrove received what has been termed a phishing email which claimed to be from the bank and asked for his security details.”
He told the court that Lloyds TSB had compensated Mr Musgrove but was still missing the £3,802.
“Asked by police why she had spent the money Gill’s response was ‘you would have too if you were a smack head’”, he said.
Mr Oliver Woolhouse, defending, said Gill had been addicted to heroin for six years.
She has previous convictions for theft and attempted theft.
Judge Michael Challinor said Gill would be jailed if she ever put a foot wrong again and gave her a 12-month supervision order.
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