Painter is a con artist

An artist who drove around in a sports car telling strangers sob stories to con them out of cash was spared jail. Vanessa Smith, 51, stopped people in the street claiming she needed money for petrol while promising to pay them back. Smith told her victims she was called ‘Hayley’ while driving around in a Toyota MR2 sports car, Southwark Crown Court heard. The fraudster, who has a string of previous convictions for similar offences, took £20 from Emma Hodgers…