A CHARITY cheat pleaded guilty yesterday to conning the public.

Dalisa Lister appeared before Harrogate magistrates, having been arrested on a warrant issued after she failed to appear at court on May 29.

She was due to be sentenced for obtaining £35 by deception by selling raffle tickets, claiming they were for the benefit of a nursing home.

Instead, said Michael Hammond, prosecuting, the 28-year-old used the cash to fund her drugs habit.

Lister, who had been living in accommodation for the homeless in Robert Street, Harrogate, had gone among elderly residents in the town's Dene Park area selling them tickets to "aid Bilton Nursing Home".

One of those who bought a ticket had been a retired nurse, who later told police she felt foolish and humiliated at having been taken in.

Mr Hammond said Lister, who had indulged in a particularly mean deception, had been arrested after visiting between 15 and 20 people in an attempt to persuade them to part with cash.

Lister admitted deception, failing to answer bail and breaching a community rehabilitation order imposed for theft, deception and attempted deception. Her solicitor, Geoffrey Rogers, said she had now moved away from Harrogate and had cut her drug intake considerably.

The hearing was adjourned until December 23 and Lister was bailed to reappear.