The Kent half-sister of a lord and two men who funded a lavish lifestyle from a complex mortgage and benefit fraud have today been jailed for a total of seven years.

Compulsive thief Dawn Simon, of Sheerstone, Iwade, stole treasured jewellery worth up to half-a-million pounds in a string of street pickpocketings.

The 51-year-old is the half-sister of Lord Ousley, the chairman of the Football Association Race Equality Advisory Group and chairman of the anti-racism Kick It Out campaign.

She came to the attention of police when her lover Peter Harvey, 50, went to Sittingbourne police station after a domestic dispute.

He told officers Simon had fraudulently acquired her home by encouraging nephew Daniel Wade, 29, to pose as a mortgage applicant.

Under the scam in which Wade secured the £379,000 mortgage, they forged personal documents and payslips.

The property was then occupied by Simon under a bogus tenancy agreement with Wade.
At the same time, Simon was fraudulently claiming benefits, including child tax support, while living a cash-rich lifestyle.

She enjoyed luxury jewellery, holidays to Dubai, Las Vegas and New York as well as numerous cars – including a £140,000 Bentley SS.

An investigation also found Simon had been paying the mortgage payments for Wade on the property – despite not being in full-time employment.

Detectives also uncovered evidence of purse thefts from all over London area.

Simon targeted victims at cash machines before making a note of their pin numbers and following them – then stealing their purses before draining their bank accounts.

Police also found stolen mobile phones, digital camera memory cards and jewellery.

The trio, arrested in March 2012, were sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court after a jury convicted them of a string of theft and fraud offences.

"Her actions around spotting victims at cash points and following them shows a deep level of premeditated and ingrained criminality..." - DC Stewart Walker

Simon and Wade, of Lady Margaret Road, Holloway, London, were jailed for three years while Harvey, of Rotherbury Walk, Tottenham, London, was locked up for one year.

DC Stewart Walker, from the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate, said: "Dawn Simon's lifestyle of expensive jewellery, holidays and expensive cars was funded entirely on the back of other people’s misery.

"Simon was a compulsive thief whose continued stealing of handbags and purses not only cost people the money they physically carried, but also their treasured items such as personal mementos and a vast number of family photos, as well treasured jewellery valued at up to £500,000.

"Her actions around spotting victims at cash points and following them shows a deep level of premeditated and ingrained criminality.

"Not only was she stealing from victim's handbags and purses, but she was also using the taxpayer to fund her six bedroom house with a pool - money she just wasn't entitled to."

He added: "Peter Harvey and Daniel Wade knew the full extent of the crimes being committed and enjoyed the windfalls that came with them, which included Harvey, a long term benefit recipient being able to spend over £40,000 on watches alone.

"The evidence was overwhelming and this should send a clear message that crime does not pay."

Police will now look to confiscate all assets the three suspects have benefited from through their criminal activities.