A woman who posed as a solicitor at numerous court hearings and in police stations is facing jail.

Sian Jacobs was said to have left “a trail of victims in her wake” over the six-month period in which she represented individuals in both family and criminal matters.

Described by one man’s family as a “charlatan and fraudster who exploited desperation”, it was said she had even “advised” him while he was at Medway police station to fake self-harm so he would be transferred to hospital, with his parents later being threatened with legal action if she was not paid for her “professional services”.

Maidstone Crown Court heard the “client” - Craig Capeling - was involved in legal proceedings at the town’s family court in 2017 when he was first approached by Jacobs as he sat at the back of a courtroom.

His retired father, Rodney Capeling, was then duped into forking out more than £5,000 for her supposed skills.

But sadly both men have since died without seeing the bogus lawyer being finally brought to justice.

Jacobs, who lives in Norwich, pleaded guilty to four offences of being an unqualified person acting as a solicitor between September 1, 2017 and January 12, 2018, and one of fraud committed between September 1, 2017 and February 28, 2018.

But a series of delays, including adjournments for psychiatric reports, meant her case could not be finally listed for sentence until the end of May this year.

Even then the hearing could not be concluded and Jacobs was told she will have to wait until July before she learns her fate.

However, opening the case against the 50-year-old, prosecutor Hannah Williams detailed the level of deceit she had stooped to.

“This offending concerns behaviour by Sian Jacobs holding herself out as a solicitor, carrying out the work of a solicitor, even appearing in courts when she was never qualified to do so,” Ms Williams told the court.

“The evidence shows she was leading a chaotic life in which she left a trail of victims in her wake.

“On September 3, 2017, Craig Capeling was at Maidstone family court. He was approached by Sian Jacobs who told him she was a solicitor and persuaded him to pay her £500 for her professional services that day.

“Magistrates asked her for her Solicitors’ Regulation Authority (SRA) number as they couldn’t find her on the system.

“She provided a number which didn’t work and explained to the court that her SRA number had not been generated yet.

“Thereafter, she represented Mr Capeling on several occasions and Rodney Capeling, his father, was persuaded to pay thousands of pounds for her legal services.

“He explained meeting the defendant where she told him and the family she believed his son had been misled and misrepresented with his court appearances, she had good reason to take on his case and that Craig Capeling would have a compensation payment out of it.

“Courts should not be a place where charlatans prey on the desperate…”

“She indicated she had started a new business and she could create a payment plan as the case progressed.”

It was at Medway police station on September 23 that same year that Jacobs told Mr Capeling to “feign self-harm by strangling himself with shoelaces”, explained the prosecutor.

“He followed her advice and was placed under constant supervision for the three days he spent in police custody,” she added.

Jacobs also attended the police station in person, claiming to be his solicitor.

During another hearing at the Maidstone family court on September 12, 2017, the fraudster was immediately challenged by the judge as to who she was, only for Jacobs to brazenly reply: “I’m a solicitor.”

She also represented individuals at Canterbury magistrates’ court and at Plumstead police station in south east London.

On that occasion her “client” had requested her services after he had been arrested on suspicion of assault.

Jacobs even sent photographs to police of the alleged victim in her underwear in what “could only have been to undermine” the complainant, explained Ms Williams.

However, it was not until July 2020 that she was arrested, telling officers when interviewed that she had bipolar and “huge blanks” in her memory.

In victim impact statements read out in court, it was said that Rodney Capeling, who was defrauded out of £5,450, was left feeling “uneasy, suspicious and used”.

The pensioner also explained that having initially appeared “knowledgeable and capable”, Jacobs caused concern with her lack of responses.

There then came the occasion when a man purportedly acting on her behalf knocked at their door demanding money, and subsequently threatened legal proceedings if they did not pay up.

This led to the Capelings contacting the SRA and discovering Jacobs was not a solicitor.

The consequences of her actions were said to be far-reaching, with the family being given “false hope” and Craig Capeling in particular left “extremely distressed” by events.

His sister told the court: “Neither my father nor brother are now alive to have any firm closure in this case.

“It is a very fundamental form of dishonesty and misrepresentation…”

“All of this would have been avoided if she had not callously and deliberately set out to exploit the desperation of my brother.

“Courts should not be a place where charlatans prey on the desperate.”

As well as the five offences to which Jacobs pleaded guilty, the court was asked to take three further, similar matters committed in 2019 in the jurisdiction of Norwich Crown Court into consideration on sentencing.

That will take place at Maidstone Crown Court on July 17 after Judge Julian Smith has heard mitigation.

But he warned it was “a case that requires care”.

“The gravamen of these offences is not merely in financial reward but the context in which it was obtained and the potential of people relying on her,” Judge Smith remarked.

“It is a very fundamental form of dishonesty and misrepresentation.”

Jacobs was released on bail until sentencing.