A fraudster who conned victims into paying for a flat that already have tenants living in it has been jailed.

Justina Steigvilaite scammed more than £3,000 in a two-month stint where she showed potential tenants around a flat in Parrock Street, Gravesend, a court heard.

However, when the victims attempted to move into the property they found that Steigvilaite was not the landlord and and the flat already had people living in it.

Maidstone Crown Court heard that the 31-year-old, of Parkway in Erith, accepted deposits from five people who viewed the property.

She accepted between £200 and £1,200 from her victims, some of which was paid directly into her bank account.

Steigvilaite was arrested for the offences on 9 May 2016.

As well as these five frauds, Steigvilaite pleaded guilty to receiving more than £5,000 from the Department of Work and Pensions due to a false representation.

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The money was supposed to go to a person she was caring for but instead they kept a majority of the cash and only made partial payments to the rightful recipient.

She also took out a bank loan in the name of another person and withdrew the funds from their account.

The 31-year-old pleaded to eight counts of fraud and was sentenced to two years imprisonment at Maidstone Crown Court on Monday October 9.

Police Constable Colin Bassett, the investigating officer for this case, said: "Steigvilaite deceitfully gained over £3,000 from people who were looking for a place to live.

"She caused a huge amount of stress to each of these victims. Further to this she abused a position of trust to steal benefit payments meant for another person and took out a bank loan with a false identity to gain even more money. The sentence received is entirely appropriate."