A WIDNES con woman who cheated 170 victims out of concerts and trips worth £24,000 has been jailed today.

Tammy Foy, aged 37, of Kingsway, Widnes, was sentenced to 16 months at Chester Crown Court after being charged with 27 counts of fraud by abuse of position.

The offences date back to 2013 and spanned a period of months, continuing into this year.

Foy launched a business venture called Halton Community Trips, organising day trips and excursions for friends through social media.

After carrying out several successful trips to attractions such as Camelot, Gulliver′s World and Blackpool, Foy began to expand the business to new ‘customers′.

The advertised trips became more extravagant as Foy promised victims tickets to concerts and weekends away to places likes of Windsor and Disneyland Paris.

She accepted payments in the form of direct bank transfers and cash. However the payments were never honoured and no trips were completed.

In total, Foy targeted over 170 victims and collected over £24,000 which was given to her in good faith and subsequently spent on other things.

DC Ian Wetherall, Cheshire Police Economic Crime Unit, said: "Foy planned this venture in order to win people′s confidence and then defraud them of their money. In many cases these were people she knew and she took advantage of the trust they had in her.

"Foy used the image of being a ‘do-gooder′ in the community to foil people into handing over their cash.

“The victims have been left very angry and upset by her actions and today′s sentence has seen Foy brought to justice for her crimes."