A WOMAN who “disgracefully” duped hard-up families into paying deposits on non-existent holiday lets has been given a chance to pay the cash back.

June Thompson wept as she avoided immediate jail for the scam which netted a total of £3,360.

Teesside Crown Court heard how the 41-year-old set up a fake website advertising caravans for holiday stays in Crimdon Dene, near Hartlepool and at the Flamingo Land resort in North Yorkshire.

She admitted 16 counts of fraud – each count relating to a victim who had seen the caravans advertised online and paid deposits to secure one.

Once the bookings had been confirmed, Thompson then disappeared, failing to respond to messages.

Prosecutor Jonny Walker said some of the complainants went in person to Thompson’s former home in Catcote Road, Hartlepool, to complain after posts began circulating on Facebook about a “local caravan scam”.

When arrested Thompson told police she had previously run an extremely successful catering business.

But after falling behind on her rent, she came up with the idea for the scam, using pictures of other lets she found online to illustrate the caravans.

Mr Walker said all of the money paid remained outstanding and the con had a detrimental effect on people who were not particularly wealthy and were seeking cheap holidays.

Stephen Constantine, mitigating, said Thompson had an offer of employment from a call centre and, with her partner, had amassed about £700 which could be paid back by way of compensation.

Judge Stephen Ashurst told Thompson, of Burdon Crescent, Seaham, County Durham, he was impressed by a letter she had written acknowledging the level of her dishonesty.

“What you did was disgraceful," he said. "Although the individual losses were not enormous, beyond these sums lies a good deal of unhappiness and disappointment.

“It was all lies about goods and services you were unable to provide.”

The judge said he had a difficult balancing act in terms of whether to “harden my heart and lock you up immediately”.

However he decided that he would defer sentence on Thompson for six months in order to allow her time to pay every penny back.

Judge Ashurst said he wanted to see substantial efforts, evidenced in writing, of the defendant saving the money required so that he would be in a position to make compensation orders in respect of each complainant.

If she did this and stayed out of trouble, he said she would receive a suspended jail sentence.

However if she did not, “all options would remain open”.