A ‘cruel’ Essex woman who stole more than £80,000 from a vulnerable 18-year-old boy by lying that her son was being targeted by loan sharks has been jailed for more than two years.
Jenny Taggart, 44, of Longfield in Harlow, Essex began targeting her victim in September 2020 during the pandemic.
She lied and claimed she needed money to help her family, taking £86,000 of his inheritance which she used to fund a luxury lifestyle.
Large chunks of money began leaving the teenager’s account without his permission, and Taggart even used his card to purchase a new phone in her name.
Essex Police pieced together a pattern of spending and fraud all connecting to 44-year-old Taggart’s bank account, unearthing her scheme which had been ongoing for three years.
After six months the victim realized he was being stolen from, but not how or by whom, having already seen over £15,000 sent from his account to someone appearing to be in Luxembourg.
In reality, Taggart was directing large sums to her Paypal account and other types of payments, hiding the activity.
Despite opening another account and moving his remaining funds there in 2021, Taggart continued to take his money – this time asking the victim for money to support her family and promising to pay him back from an inheritance she claimed she would receive.
Jenny Taggart, 44, of Longfield in Harlow, Essex, began targeting her victim in September 2020 during the pandemic
Taggart was yesterday sentenced to 27 months in prison at Chelmsford Crown Court (pictured)
But these stories were lies; there was no pending inheritance, and she took a further £71,716 from him. When the victim told family about his money concerns in 2023, they raised the alarm with police and Action Fraud, and Essex Police’s financial investigators took the case.
Officers discovered multiple transactions that the victim had no knowledge of in local shops he didn’t visit. In one business Taggart had even used his card to purchase a phone in her own name.
Taggart was charged in November last year and pleaded guilty to both theft and fraud in January at Chelmsford Crown Court. She was jailed for 27 months yesterday.
The judge in her case established she had taken at least £86,811 from the victim, and a timetable for the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) was set out to establish what money could be reclaimed.
Detective Sergeant Rachel Barrett added: ‘Taggart’s crimes were brazen, exploitative and cruel. She targeted a vulnerable man and took his money, hiding it as an international fraud being run from mainland Europe.
‘She manipulated him with stories of her mother being abused in a care home and in dire need of moving.
She said son was being targeted by loan sharks who were demanding payment. She would pay him back with the sale of a property in Florida.
It was all a fantasy so she could live beyond her means at his expense. This sentence is a just reward for those actions, and we will recover all the funds we can through the forthcoming POCA hearings.’
Detective Constable Karen Venables said: ‘Our work doesn’t stop at sentencing – it’s vital we continue through the Proceeds of Crime Act hearings to establish what funds can be recovered from Taggart.
‘That means our work is ongoing, with financial investigators interrogating the details of bank statements to establish exactly what was fraudulently spent and illegally taken.
‘That outcome is as important as the criminal case because it’s only right we minimise whatever impact we can for the victim.’
