Conwoman who stole daughter's identity asks judge to heal 'family rift'

A convicted benefit fraudster who stole her estranged daughter’s identity to go shopping asked a judge to help heal their “family rift”.

Dolores Low, 45, opened four accounts with mail order companies Next Directory, Grattan, New Day, and Studio Retail, using her daughter Marisha’s name and date of birth.

Southwark Crown Court heard she used them to spend £2,744.16 between July 2019 and November 2020.

At her sentencing hearing on Tuesday, the court heard Marisha reported her mother to the police and was not speaking to her.

Low’s lawyer Claudia Barker said she was “very keen to build bridges” as she asked the judge to impose a restorative justice order - which typically involves making amends with the victim.

Sentencing, Mr Recorder Alexander Layton QC said: “I’ve heard something of a family rift between you and your daughter and there’s disagreement about whether or not you had permission from your daughter in the first place to use her name and date of birth.

“It’s plain that there’s a family difficulty here and it’s not the function of this court to try to get into the details of that, however, the probation service offers a programme that may assist in that.”

He sentenced her to a 12-month community order with requirements of 80 hours of unpaid work and rehabilitation sessions, and ordered compensation to the companies in full.

The judge added: “You have previous convictions for benefit fraud but they are a long time ago and I’m not going to take them into account.”

Low, of Notting Hill, west London, had admitted four counts of fraud by false representation at her first opportunity.

Ms Barker, mitigating, said Low had demonstrated “real regret and remorse”, adding: “It’s always been Mrs Low’s intention to make the repayments.

“The crime here for Ms Low is really the breach of trust for her in relation to her daughter.”

She mentioned Low’s employers were standing by her, and added: “The two are not communicating despite Ms Low wanting to.

“My client is very keen to progress under restorative justice because clearly bridges do need to be built.”

Prosecutor Gregor McKinley told of how Marisha Low discovered the fraud when debt collection agencies got in touch with her.

She discovered that Low had used her name and date of birth but her own address and telephone number.

He said: “These were essentially four loans taken out with catalogue companies or mail order companies.

“She looked up her Experian account and that showed three other accounts running in her name unpaid.

“She confronted her mother about this and then reported the mother to the police.”

The fraudulent sums were: £93 from Grattan; £528.12 from Next Directory; £55.45 from Studio Retail; and £1,067.59 from New Day Ltd.

Referring to Marisha’s victim impact statement, the prosecutor said: “She talks about a difficult relationship with her mother and in particular she talks of her concern at that time that this would damage her credit rating.

“She said that she had been working hard full-time and was trying to save up in order to buy somewhere to live."

Mr McKinley said the police officer in the case helped her restore her credit rating, adding: “It’s the emotional aspect which was exacerbating an already difficult relationship.

“There’s an element of breach of trust given there’s a family relationship involved.”

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