A YOUNG mum who faked having terminal cancer was jailed for four years after swindling friends and vulnerable family out of more than £132,000 to blow it on a luxury lifestyle.

A court heard the mum-of-one had kept up her web of lies to carry on funding her affluent lifestyle and borrow even more money.

Asha Dawes sobbed as the court heard she even conned relatives out ot £5000 for a trip to America to have experimental cancer treatment she had invented herself.

She told friends and family she only had months to live and was expecting a large medical negligence payout before asking them for cash, loans and gifts.

Dawes, 22, from Worthing, even faked tax demands from HMRC before pretending to be a solicitor offering to help.

Her devastated family described the Spartan life they led doing charity fun runs and asking friends for money to help cure Dawes fake cancer.

Her aunt and uncle were even forced to cash in pensions after the fraud was discovered.

Dawes, from Nelson Road, Goring, invented the terminal cancer after her years of swindling were almost discovered.

Hove Trial Centre heard she controlled the lives of the grandparents who had taken her in and raised her as their own from the age of ten.

They were left destitute after she helped herself to the money left over after they sold their house and emigrated.

Her offending started when she was just 17 and carried on for four years.

She spent money on herself and her three-year-old son.

She took control of grandparents Shirley and John Pinder’s finances, getting to the post first before they could see bank statements which showed she was taking money from them.

Her Honour Judge Shani Barnes described the case as extraordinary and said she had seldom heard a more devastating breach of trust.

The damage done was irreparable, the judge said.

“I have seldom read the extraordinary lengths you went to gain control of them financially, emotionally and to have left such a wake of devastation in your path,” Judge Barnes told her.

Dawes used money from her family to buy a car and fund her lifestyle, borrowing money from one set of relatives to pay back the others.

She spent money on rent and maintaining an affluent lifestyle in order to borrow even more money, the court heard.

The judge told Dawes her grandparents had provided her with everything and she had devastated their lives.

Dawes sobbed as emotional victim impact statements were read out in court.

Her uncle, Nicholas Young, said he was shocked when he visited Dawes grandparents in Spain.

“The cupboards were bare and they weren’t far from death.

“We’ve lost money, security, time, sense of family, peace of mind.”

Dawes told police: “I have been a terrible person, who has done terrible things.

“It just gets worse and worse and you know that you’re doing wrong.”

Grandmother Shirley Pinder said: “I have been absolutely destroyed.

“I loved Asha as a daughter and it is really hard to understand that for years she has manipulated us.

“I do not know how long she has treated us as something to just use and dispose of.”

Dawes was sentenced to four years after admitting three counts of fraud against her grandparents and aunt and uncle to run concurrently.

She took more than £75,000 from her grandparents and more than £60,000 from her aunt and uncle.

She will spend at least half in prison before being released on licence.