A CON-ARTIST stole a woman's identity as part of an elaborate scam to sell her luxury home and pocket the cash.

Angela Hargreaves used a false name to obtain the tenancy of Catherine Litherland's five-bedroom semi in Hale, near Altrincham, before assuming her identity.

Manchester Crown Court heard how she took birth and marriage certificates belonging to Ms Litherland from a cupboard inside the house in Ashley Road.

Hargreaves, 32, then twice tried to sell the '560,000 property - for '430,000 and '480,000 - while Ms Litherland was living abroad.

Joanna Rodikis, prosecuting, said that a sale was only scuppered when police arrested Hargreaves for shoplifting at Tesco in Altrincham and discovered suspicious documents.

Hargreaves, who admitted theft and deception charges, was given a 200-hour community punishment order after the judge accepted that she didn't organise the deception.

When police arrested Hargreaves for shoplifting, they found a driving licence application in Ms Litherland's name and a loan application in the name of Jane Wright.

Hargreaves used that name and donned a blonde wig and dark glasses to secure the tenancy of Ms Litherland's home from Rooftops letting agents in Hale in August 2003.

The company checked her references and she produced a driving licence and bank account details in the bogus name to pass a credit check before being given the keys.

Once inside, she took Ms Litherland's personal papers and passed them off as her own, approaching two prospective buyers for the house and two solicitors' firms to carry out conveyancing.

She also stole 19 pieces of antique furniture worth '14,200 from Ms Litherland's house, which her father Roland left her with the house when he died in 1997. The antiques were sold on for just '1,250.

Hargreaves was spared prison after a judge accepted she was not the orchestrator of the fraud. She said she had been asked by a man to help him look after a house he had to sell.

Judge Adrian Lyons told her: "Any fraud of this nature is serious, involving as it does an offence which is becoming more prevalent, which is theft of an identity."

While she would have faced jail in normal circumstances, he said the benefits for her and losses suffered by others were "nothing like as great as they might have been".

Mark Graffius, defending, said the offences came after Hargreaves fled a violent relationship and was left in debt. He said he had been instructed to convey his client's "extreme remorse" to Ms Litherland, who was in court.

Speaking after the hearing, the 60-year-old, who lives on a boat in New York, said: "I feel very disappointed. She should have gone to prison."

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