Paris attack fake victim Alexandra Damien jailed for fraud

Alexandra Damien posed for this shot in 2017 for an article about survivors' stories

A French woman has received a jail sentence after passing herself off as one of the victims of the 2015 Paris terror attacks for financial gain.

Alexandra Damien, 33, is to serve six months in prison for fraud and perjury.

She was found to have pocketed up to 20,000 euros ($23,180; £17,552) from funds set up for victims in the aftermath of the attacks.

Damien also claimed therapy sessions at a hotel in Normandy paid for by the French Association of Terror Victims.

For this and other criminal offences she was given 18-month suspended sentence by a criminal court.

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Damien offered a tearful apology for her actions during the trial, in which the prosecution accused her of being motivated by greed.

She had narrowly avoided the attack on Le Carillon bar

Gunmen and suicide bombers killed 130 people in the attacks on the French capital in November 2015.

The attacks - claimed by the Islamic State group - targeted a concert hall, a major stadium, restaurants and bars almost simultaneously.

Damien had intended to go to one of the bars that was attacked that night, Le Carillon, but changed her plans.

Later on social media, she posted photos of what she said was a scar inflicted on her by the Kalashnikov gun of one of the attackers.

Damien also tattooed her arm with the motto of the city of Paris - "Fluctuat nec mergitur" - a Latin phrase meaning "she is tossed by the waves but does not sink".