A FRAUDSTER has avoided a jail sentence after conning her victims into paying hundreds of pounds for phones and laptops listed on internet selling sites but never delivering the items.

Christine Waterworth, of Mottershead Road, Widnes, listed iPhones and MacBooks for sale in Gumtree and Depop.

But her buyers never received these electrical goods despite handing over hundreds of pounds.

On Wednesday, February 7, she was spared an immediate jail sentence at Warrington Magistrates Court.

The court heard that Waterworth listed two iPhones for sale on Gumtree in January 2016, with victims paying £250 and £170 each for the mobiles.

However, they never received the phones from an account she had created under the name Hannah Waterworth – with one instead receiving a parcel with a blouse inside.

In February 2016, she then listed a MacBook Air for sale for £300 on Depop but the buyer never received their item.

The 22-year-old, who has been unemployed for five years, was convicted of three counts of fraud after a trial.

She had claimed that her ex-partner had used her phone and bank account in order to carry out the swindle, while the court heard the she had been diagnosed with depression in 2014.

Barrister Gary Heaven, representing Waterworth, said: “This woman was in an abusive, controlling and coercive relationships for several years, and the last few years have been turbulent for her.

“The appropriate way forward is for any custodial sentence to be suspended.”

Waterworth, mum to a four-year-old son, was handed a 13-week jail sentence suspended for a year by the magistrates.

She was also ordered to pay £720 compensation to her victims and carry out 50 hours of unpaid work.