Serial conwoman avoids jail for solicitor fraud

Carla Evans was given a suspended prison sentence at Bristol Crown Court

A serial fraudster has avoided going to jail after posing as a solicitor to con a vulnerable woman out of money during a family court dispute.

Carla Evans, 34, from Fishponds, Bristol, told the victim she was a solicitor and would help her for free, but later asked for money.

Evans drafted letters on the woman’s behalf on headed law firm paper, took statements from family members, and told her there were dates fixed in court.

Appearing at Bristol Crown Court, Evans, who had admitted two counts of fraud by false representation, was given a nine-month suspended prison sentence.

She was also previously convicted of fraud in South Wales in 2019 after claiming she had terminal cancer to con a charity into paying for a wedding.

In the new case, the court was told the offences were committed between June and August and October and December 2021.

'Sophisticated fraud'

Prosecutor Emilene Davis told the court the victim was introduced to Evans via a mutual friend.

“She asked her for advice and help, and Miss Evans agreed to help her pro bono,” she said.

“She opened up about the abuse she suffered as a child. These are matters she had never disclosed to anyone before. It distressed her.

“Miss Evans took a statement from her younger sister. Subsequently, she received those two statements on headed paper from an actual law firm."

Miss Evans later asked for a sum of £1,884.

The court heard the victim was struggling financially and paid around £1,500, and borrowed the remainder from a family member.

Evans told the victim there was a court date set for her case in August 2021 and as that date approached told her it had been moved until October.

'Difficult family circumstances'

Becoming suspicious, the woman did some research online and learnt of Evans’s previous conviction for the charity fraud, and then contacted the law firm Evans claimed to work for and they said they had no record of her.

Miss Davis said: "This was a sophisticated fraud with significant planning, including research of real law firms and the terminology they use."

The second offence regarded a different woman who had spent £160 buying Christmas gifts Evans was selling on Facebook Marketplace.

The court heard when the items did not arrive the second woman contacted Evans, who made excuses including claiming her father had just passed away and her son was in hospital with a brain tumour.

Susan Cavender, defending, said: "She [Evans] was clearly doing it to make money and her family circumstances are difficult."

Miss Cavender said Evans now had three children and was pregnant with a fourth.

As well as the suspended sentence, Judge William Hart ordered Evans to complete 20 rehabilitation days and pay compensation totalling £2,044 to her victims.