Men conned by police prostitute

Hayley Cosgrave was picked up by a man on Manchester Road and driven off for sex but then told him she was an undercover cop.

The 29-year-old ordered the man, who has learning difficulties and is described as vulnerable, to pay an £80 fixed penalty fine or face going through the Courts for kerb crawling.

However the man did not have the cash on him so went home to get his bank card and withdraw some money from a hole in the wall on Sunday, March 30.

A couple of days later Cosgrave, who had gone to his town centre home with him, went back to the house and told him that she had spoken to her bosses and they said he had to pay a further £100, which he did.

She returned the following week and again told him that he would have to pay hundreds more to avoid prosecution.

The man thought he had heard the last of it but she called at his door again in July and he realised she was not a police officer.

When he confronted her he told her he wasn’t giving her any more and she threatened to report him to the police for sexually assaulting her.

The man left his house but did not shut the door properly and she entered the property and stole his wallet.

Cosgrave, now of Pimlico, London, denied three counts of fraud and one of burglary but was convicted following a trial at Swindon Crown Court.

At an earlier hearing she had admitted one count of fraud against another man in February this year when she again told him to pay an on the spot fine.

After the jury returned the unanimous verdicts, Judge Douglas Field told them ‘the case against her was overwhelming’.

He said “In my judgement she pleaded not guilty and told her untrue version of events because she can’t face up to the fact that she is going to go to prison.”

The judge agreed to grant her bail on condition she reports to Belgravia police station every day after hearing she is on a drug rehabilitation order in London for other offences.

Speaking after the case DC Kevin Golledge said: “Hayley Cosgrave actively targeted and deceived a number of men over a period of months making them believe that they were paying police fines.

“She had no regard for her victims and sought to make money from their vulnerability.

“We are pleased with the decision of the court and would like to highlight the fact that police officers never ask for cash when issuing an on the spot fine.

“A ticket is given which must be paid through the courts.”

Cosgrave has a long history of crime and in 2003 was one of four prostitutes made subject of a court injunction banning them from plying their trade in the town centre.

Swindon council sought the order to try and clear the Broad Street area of the scourge of street prostitution.

The vice girls were forbidden from entering an area bounded by Station Road, Ocotal Way, the Magic Roundabout, Fleming Way, Corporation Street and Manchester Road for twelve hours a day.

If they breached the injunction they could be brought back to court and be jailed.