Conwoman To Pay Back £400,000

A woman jailed for six years for deceiving a large number of auction houses and high value retailers has been ordered to pay £400,000.

Shahra Marsh, 53, from London's West End and formerly Canary Wharf, pleaded guilty to 38 counts of criminal activity including fraud, deception and concealment at Southwark Crown Court in October last year.

She was produced from prison to attend a confiscation hearing on 12 January.

Items in her possession at the time of her arrest included expensive jewellery, antiques and other high value goods.

A Metropolitan police investigation revealed she obtained these items by impersonating someone of extreme wealth.

Over a three year period, Marsh wrote cheques that she knew would bounce when purchasing the goods, bought from high end auctioneers.

Police seized a number of items from Marsh when she was arrested - most of which have been returned to their rightful owners.

Among them were a diamond ring from Guy Ellia valued at £110,000; a ring, pair of earrings, necklace and brooch from Marchak valued at £27,030; and five framed paintings, a mirror, a brooch, a statuette and a marble-topped chest of drawers from Tajan valued at £115,067.

Two antique tables, a pair of antique chairs, an antique box, an antique set of drawers and a marble-topped table from Massol valued at £24,380.11

Officers from the Met's Economic and Specialist Crime Command are now in the process of returning an additional £500,000 worth of jewellery and furniture to the rightful owners and the remaining assets worth £400,000 will now be sold to meet the confiscation order handed down to Marsh yesterday.

Detective Constable Marek Coghill from the Economic and Specialist Crime Command said: "Sharha Marsh was an extremely dishonest individual, who was able to deceive and manipulate people's trust and business practices.

"Her criminal endeavor has led to no intrinsic gain whatsoever and this case should serve as a reminder to other fraudsters that we will use our powers under the Proceeds Of Crime Act (POCA) to recover money obtained through criminal activity."

(PR/BMcC)