A WOMAN who conned people out of money by telling them a sob story has been spared jail.

Andrea Thorne, 29, of North Road, Brighton, pleaded guilty to 15 counts of fraud from November 2014 to February 2015 when she appeared at Brighton Magistrates' Court.

Thorne approached people in the street in Brighton crying saying she needed money for train fare as her car had broken down and she needed to see her family in hospital or get back to her home in Horsham, the court heard.

People handed over cash to her and then later realised they had been conned.

She was handed an eight-month suspended prison sentence, ordered to attend a drug rehabilitation programme and pay court costs of £85.

Sergeant Andrea Leahy said: "This was a series of frauds that really affected the community and the victims were upset that they had been conned."