A 21 YEARS OLD STEPNEY GIRL MADE A BIG MISTAKE WHE

A 21 YEARS OLD STEPNEY GIRL MADE A BIG MISTAKE WHEN SHE
THOUGHT A LOCAL SHOPKEEPER WOULD AGREE TO ACCEPT A STOLEN
CHEQUE, SOUTHWARK CROWN COURT HEARD.

AFTER SENDING LYN HACKETT OFF TO GET THE CHEQUE GUARANTEE CARD

MR MOHAMMED SABIR, 59, WHO RUNS SAMUDA STORES IN MANCHESTER

ROAD, LIMEHOUSE, CALLED THE POLICE.

MINUTES LATER, WHEN THE GIRL RETURNED, MR SABIR LOCKED HER IN
HIS STORE ROOM UNTIL THE POLICE ARRIVED, SAID MISS JOANNE KORNER
PROSECUTING.

WHEN SEARCHED AT THE POLICE STATION TWO STOLEN PENSION
BOOKS – ONE BELONGING TO HER GRANDMOTHER – WERE FOUND ON HACKETT,
ALONG WITH A STOLEN DRIVING LICENCE.

WHEN OFFICERS FROM SCOTLAND YARD’S CENTRAL CHEQUE SQUAD WERE

CALLED IN THEY UNCOVERED HACKETT’S INVOLVEMENT IN A CHEQUE SWINDLE

THREE YEARS EARLIER.

QUESTIONED ABOUT THE CASHING OF STOLEN CHEQUES IN SPAIN IN 1983

HACKETT, OF THE HIGHWAY, STEPNEY, ADMITTED SHE HAD MADE TWO TRIPS

ABROAD AND OBTAINED ‘A FEW GRAND’.

SHE SAID THE FIRST TRIP SHE WENT ON WAS WITH ANOTHER WOMAN WHO

APPROACHED HER IN A PUB TO ASK HER IF SHE WANTED TO EARN SOME MONEY,

SAID COUNSEL.

AFTER BEING TOLD TO GET THREE OR FOUR FALSE PASSPORTS IN THE

NAME OF CHEQUE HOLDERS, SHE WENT TO MAJORCA.

PART OF THE PROCEEDS OF HER CRIMES SHE KEPT AND THE

REMAINDER WAS HANDED OVER TO HER UNIDENTIFIED ACCOMPLICE, THE COURT

HEARD.

A FEW MONTHS LATER SHE WAS APPROACHED AGAIN AND MADE A
SECOND TRIP, THIS TIME TO TORREMOLINOS.

HACKETT ADMITTED BEING INVOLED IN OTHER CHEQUE SWINDLES BUT

‘NOT MANY, BECAUSE I WAS SCARED OF GETTING CAUGHT.

‘
MR JEREMY DEAN, DEFENDING, SAID HACKETT HAD A DRINK PROBLEM AND

HAD SUFFERED BOUTS OF SEVERE DEPRESSION FOR WHICH SHE WAS RECEIVING

MEDICAL TREATMENT.

‘SHE WAS INFLUENCED AND USED AS A TOOL BY OTHERS AT A TIME WHEN

SHE WAS VULNERABLE BECAUSE OF HER PROBLEMS,’ ADDED COUNSEL.

JAILING HER FOR 12 MONTHS, SUSPENDED FOR TWO YEARS, JUDGE
COOKE SAID: ‘THE FACT THAT YOU HAVE A DRINK PROBLEM AND SUFFER
FROM DEPRESSION IS NO EXCUSE FOR CRIME.

YOU HAVE CLEARLY BEEN
ENGAGED IN FRAUD FOR A CONSIDERABLE PERIOD OF TIME.

‘THE REASON I AM NOT IMMEDIATELY SENDING YOU TO PRISON
IS NOT BECAUSE OF YOUR PROBLEMS, BUT IN THE HOPE THAT YOU WILL
FINALLY COME TO YOUR SENSES.

‘YOU CAN EITHER GO THE WAY OF THE CRIMINAL – EASY MONEY
AND A LIFE SPENT IN AND OUT OF JAIL – OR PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER.

YOUR LIFE IS CLASPED IN YOUR OWN HANDS AND MAYBE THIS PERIOD OF
FOOLISHNESS IS AT AN END.

‘
HACKETT PLEADED GUILTY TO CONSPIRACY TO PROCURE A
VALUABLE SECURITY BY DECEPTION FROM THE LONDON CLEARING BANKS
BETWEEN JULY AND DECEMBER 1983, OBTAINING CASH BY DECEPTION,
HANDLING STOLEN GOODS AND THEFT IN NOVEMBER 1985 AND JANUARY
1986.

ENDS.