A woman from Hampstead, north London, who posed as a faith healer to con victims out of £1 million to fund her extravagant lifestyle has been jailed for 10 years.
Juliette D'Souza, 59, tricked 11 people over more than 12 years by claiming the money would be used as a spiritual offering to cure health problems, including terminal illnesses and infertility. She told victims the cash would be hung in the Amazon rainforest, where shamans would perform rituals before returning it, resolving their issues.
Instead, the money was spent on designer handbags, luxury holidays, and antique furniture. Many victims were financially ruined, with one man left 'as poor as a church mouse,' the court heard. D'Souza also 'remorselessly extracted' over £200,000 from an elderly woman.
On Thursday, she was convicted at Blackfriars Crown Court of 23 counts of obtaining property by deception and fraud, relating to victims targeted between January 1998 and June 2010. Judge Ian Karsten QC described it as 'the worst case of confidence fraud I have ever had to deal with,' adding that she cast a 'spell' over victims and acted out of 'pure greed.'
