Argos employee was threatened, jury told

A part-time Argos worker accused of using fake wage slips to get her hands on a £10,000 bank loan claims she was forced into it by "threats" and "blackmail", a court heard.

Narghas Kosar, aged 26, of Jasmine Road, Dudley, is accused of conning staff at the Royal Bank of Scotland in Wolverhampton by leading them to believe she earned £2,000 a month working at Sharzia Balti, in Owen Road, Tipton.

But at Wolverhampton Crown Court, sitting at The Waterfront, Brierley Hill yesterday she pleaded not guilty to fraud on account of being under duress from friend Abdul Saul.

Saul pleaded guilty to a charge of fraud in July last year and admitted he had spent most of the cash on home improvements giving Kosar £1,000.

However Kosar refutes that she got any of the money at all and said the only reason she had gone ahead with the con was for fears for her own safety.

Miss Kate Thomas, prosecuting, said Kosar and Saul had opened an account together in Kosar's name on June 4 which the £10,000 was paid in to.

"She accepts that she took out that loan and she accepts that the wage slips were not genuine," Miss Thomas told the jury. "The issue is whether there was duress."

Mr Saul, of Broadwater Road, Darlaston, told the court that they had gone to the bank in Wolverhampton as Kosar didn't want to run into anyone she knew.

He denied forcing her into taking out the account, and said the friendship had started to suffer as she would text him "love messages" despite knowing he was married with a son, and threatened to tell his wife they were having an affair.

Text messages he had sent her were produced as evidence taken from her phone, including one sent to Saul by Kosar saying "You murdered my heart."

Mr Francis Laird, defending, pointed out that some of the messages from him were abusive and threatening.

"I know it was stupid of me to send those messages, but she was texting me upsetting things as well," Saul said. "She said she would leave her parents for me and wanted me to go somewhere with her."

The trial continues.