Cruel fraudster who stole TV psychic Sally Morgan’s ID walks free from court
Gemma Badley, 29, set up fake accounts on Facebook and offered readings to punters for £20
TELLY psychic Sally Morgan called for "cyber restraining orders" after a cruel fraudster who stole her identity walked free from court - adding: "She ruined my life."
Jobless Gemma Badley, 29, set up fake accounts on Facebook and offered readings to punters for £20.
She preyed on vulnerable elderly people desperate to speak to their loved ones and blocked them once the cash had been paid into her account.
She even posted pictures of the TV star's family on her bogus account to make it look even more convincing.
Shocked Sally, 65, said: "At first we thought it was a bit of a joke but it got quite frightening that she was able to do this in my name.
"We put pictures on Facebook and within literally three minutes she had taken them and set up a new account."
Sally told how she contacted Facebook and the police to report Badley but said "no one wanted to know".
She added: "My team were asking them seven or eight times a day for the last year - surely alarm bells should be ringing after a while?"
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Badley was only rumbled when Sally's business manager took matters into his own hands and booked a £20 reading to expose the scam.
Badley, from Hartlepool, was arrested and later confessed to a string of fraud charges between March and April last year.
She claimed she was addicted to online gambling and used the cash she was paid by punters to place bets.
She was handed a 24-week jail sentence, suspended for 18 months, by Teesside Magistrates and ordered to pay £790 compensation to her victims.
Sally, who found fame in 2007 with her show Star Psychic and has written several bestselling books, said: "It is very sad that it came to this and I hope she gets help.
"But being a psychic I won’t hold my breath on that."