THE victim of a charity fraudster was conned into donating money for Cancer Research after losing her mother to the disease.

Paula Mills opened the door to Rosemary Scotter during a 22nd birthday party for her son Ben on January 9 last year at her home in Eynsham Drive, Abbey Wood.

Scotter, 40, was with a young female accomplice when she told the mother-of-one she was doing a sponsored walk for the charity and persuaded her to donate £5 despite the objections of Ben Mills.

The birthday boy’s 67-year-old grandmother Patricia died in May 2010 just seven weeks after being admitted to Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Woolwich, with cancer of the spleen.

Ms Mills, 46, told News Shopper she began to suspect she had been conned the longer the celebration with family and friends went on. She said: "The more I thought about it the more I felt sick.

"We all work so hard for our money and you are watching your pennies all the time.

"It’s so awful to think that you have put money in someone’s pocket."

Mother-of-three Scotter is currently serving six months in prison after she pleaded guilty to one count of fraud by false representation, taking into account another 53 offences admitted to police.

The Bracondale Road, Abbey Wood resident went door-to-door in Erith, Thamesmead, Welling, Bexleyheath, Belvedere and Sidup collecting £553 for fake charity walks in aid of Cancer Research and a children’s hospital during a two-month spree from November 2011 to January 2012.

She was arrested on January 4, 2012 after 72-year-old Jean Clare told police Scotter stole £400 from an ornament on her mantelpiece in Amberley Road, Abbey Wood, as well as £10 in fake sponsorship.

Ms Mills, a teaching assistant at Heronsgate Primary School in Thamesmead, reported Scotter to police but heard no more about the incident until she was alerted to the fraudster’s picture on the front of News Shopper.

She added: "I am so pleased somebody as disgusting as that has been caught.

"She should have got a lot longer in prison than she did because she has caused so much heartache to people."