POLICE have warned householders to be ultra-careful about the disposal of personal documents in the wake of a case in which an identity thief was jailed for three years.

Rachel Allday stole bank statements, credit cards and utility bills to help carry out what was described in court as a “carefully thought-out and planned” £30,000 fraud.

The unemployed mother-ofthree used a fishing rod and croupier stick to steal people’s post from letterboxes and mailboxes in and around Guisborough, east Cleveland.

She set up bank accounts in bogus names and plundered money from her unsuspecting victims to fund a lifestyle way beyond her means, Teesside Crown Court was told.

Allday also used credit cards stolen from the postal system to buy equipment for her three horses and ponies, as well as items such as laptop and hand-held computers.

When Allday was arrested in April last year, police found she had amassed a collection of details on as many nine people in east Cleveland in less than one year.

Judge John Walford told the 36-year-old: “This was a carefully thought-out and planned criminal enterprise. Had it not been for your arrest, you would have gone on and on.”

He added: “There were multiple victims and it must be said that the effect which this sort of offending has on the victims of identity fraud can be devastating.

“These days it can affect their credit rating and the like, and many victims feel the intrusion of others adopting their persona.

“There needs to be a sentence to mark the obvious seriousness of this sort of offending, the ease with which this sort of offending can be committed and, therefore, the sentence is intended to have some form of deterrent effect.”

Allday, of Scaling Court, Guisborough, admitted four fraud charges as well as acquiring criminal property, transferring criminal property and possessing articles for use in fraud.

The judge said: “I am quite satisfied that you were motivated by greed, by the leading of a lifestyle that was beyond your means, which you decided to finance by your dishonesty.

“You have three children and you have two parents who to an extent are dependent upon you, and they will suffer by virtue of the sentence that I have to pass in your case.”

After the case, Detective Constable Karen Donaldson said: “Allday used stolen personal details so that she could utilise people’s identities to purchase goods and services fraudulently.

“This case emphasises how important it is to keep documents with personal details on them secure, especially financial letters and utility bills. Ideally such documentation should be completely destroyed or at the minimum shredded.

“Allday also targeted mail boxes where mail was more easily accessible (especially external mail boxes for flats) and used adapted articles to steal from these mail boxes, so consideration should also be given to the security of how mail is received at premises.”