FRAUDSTER Chey Charlesworth duped an Ely woman he met through an internet dating agency, milking her bank account to the tune of more than £6,000. Charlesworth used Angela Miller s PIN number to withdrawn cash from machines, and used her bank details to s

FRAUDSTER Chey Charlesworth duped an Ely woman he met through an internet dating agency, milking her bank account to the tune of more than £6,000.

Charlesworth used Angela Miller's PIN number to withdrawn cash from machines, and used her bank details to set up on-line betting accounts.

He hid her post so she had no idea that money was being taken from her account, and when her bank told her she was overdrawn, she sold shares to cover the short fall.

Charlesworth was virtually living at Ms Miller's Collier Close home between January and April last year, and she had given him a key to the property, prosecutor Yetunde Fawehinmi told Ely magistrates on Thursday.

Ms Miller held a Premier credit account, funded by direct debits. When she discovered her account was overdrawn in April, she was not too concerned, thinking she had overspent, and paid off the debt. Later that month she heard she had exceeded her overdraft limit, and sold £1,800 worth of shares.

It was not until May 6 that Ms Miller received a credit card statement showing large amounts of money had been withdrawn without her permission. When confronted, Charlesworth tried to blame Miller's mother.

Mitigating, Graham Russell said: "It was a very close relationship, it was not an exploitive attempt to extort money from this lady."

Charlesworth found the credit card and PIN number in Ms Miller's study where he played computer games.

"It was an opportunistic offence, he didn't know how to stop," said Mr Russell. "He cannot really recall what the money was spent on, it went on gambling and bits and bobs."

Mr Russell said the couple's relationship was intense, and when Ms Miller became clingy, Charlesworth started to withdraw, and the offending began to stop.

Charlesworth, 38, of Lodge Cottage, Stoke Ferry, admitted six offences of theft, and two offences of falsifying an application for on-line betting. He asked for 19 further offences to be taken into consideration.

Sending him to Cambridge Crown Court for sentencing, presiding magistrate Harvey Harrison said: "We feel there was a breach of trust, and a degree of deceit in hiding the post and information sent to Angela Miller from her bank. There was also degree of manipulation in respect of Ms Miller and her mother.