A FRAUDSTER posed as TV psychic Sally Morgan - but the only spirits she was in contact with came in bottles, a court heard.

Con-woman Gemma Badley spent the hundreds of pounds she conned from vulnerable people who who wanted to hear from departed loved ones on her booze and gambling addictions.

Using the 65-year-old medium's picture, she set up a fake profile on Facebook and advertised her services for £20 per reading, or occasionally discounting them to £10.

Her family tried to warn police of what she was doing but they turned a blind eye until a member of Ms Morgan's marketing team saw the fake profile and contacted Badley to ask for a reading.

Video: Psychic Sally Morgan during one of her live tours

Badley, 28, did not see the ruse coming and asked for a bank transfer of £20 from the real medium's official Ben Mustard in return for a reading.

But like all her victims, she simply kept the cash and blocked Mr Mustard, so he called in the police.

When her home in Hartlepool was searched, cops found a large case of alcohol she had bought online with the proceeds of her scam and she admitted she had gambled away £750 of another duped client's cash.

Lynne Dalton, prosecuting, told Teesside Magistrates' Court: "From March 16 last year, the defendant had been sending messages via Facebook purporting to be Sally Morgan, a well-known psychic medium, inviting members of the public to have psychic readings.

"People paid by bank transfer and were then blocked."

She used one person's details to apply for a loan, used another woman's account for gambling and another person's to buy a large quantity of drink.

But she came unstuck when Psychic Sally's team caught her out.

Ms Dalton said: "Mr Mustard had seen on Facebook someone using an account purporting to be Sally Morgan.

"He struck up a conversation asking if she was really Sally Morgan and the defendant replied that she was and she would do a reading if he paid her £20 by bank transfer."

He paid the £20 despite knowing it was a scam and was promptly blocked.

Badley admitted five counts of fraud by false representation and asked for a further 19 offences to be taken into consideration.

Neil Taylor, mitigating, said: "She was a young lady with a good job who fell foul of a gambling addiction.

"As a result she lost her job, her home, fell into rent arrears and that led her to carry out this act. As a way of dealing with her problems she also turned to alcohol.

"Her family were very concerned about her behaviour and they tried to report the matter to the police at a much earlier stage, but the police said they could not help because there had been no complaints.

"It may well be that this could have been nipped in the bud.

"This was hardly professional, hardly well thought out, she gave her own bank account details. It was more akin to someone wanting to be caught so she could get some help."

Badley, of Colwyn Road, Hartlepool, was sentenced to a 24-week prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, and ordered to pay her victims a total of £790 in compensation.

Chairman of the bench, Ian Goodman, told her: "You only get one shot at getting the help you need. If you come back before this court having committed another offence you will be going to prison."

Sally Morgan 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 and no-one wanted to know. It was a bit scary what she was doing.

"We put pictures on Facebook and within literally three minutes she had taken them and set up a new account.

"It was tantamount really to cyber-stalking."