A woman who pretended that she was a selling agent for the Treasury with repossessed properties to sell cheaply conned three businessmen out of nearly £400,000.

Katrina Jones, 53, would use chauffeur-driven cars to drive potential buyers past properties she said were for sale in south Wales and the home counties.

The men handed over £394,000, believing they had bought the properties.

At Cardiff Crown Court, prosecutor Roger Griffiths said Jones conned three businessmen in south Wales and London between April and July 2004.

Mr Griffiths said: “She told the businessmen she was a selling agent for Her Majesty’s Treasury and that she could sell them repossessed property at a reduced price.

“She gave them information about properties they should bid for and they handed over cheques for properties they were told they had successfully bought.

“She produced documents that gave the impression she was working for the Treasury.”

However, one of her victims became suspicious and called the Treasury only to discover Jones did not work for them and that they did not sell properties in that way.

The court heard she disappeared in 2004 when confronted about the con. She fled the country after a BBC Crimewatch programme named her.

However, she returned in 2009 calling herself Kate David and targeted a dog rescue charity in Cornwall, becoming its treasurer and bleeding it dry.

She was eventually uncovered after debt collectors started demanding money because of unpaid bills.

The charity says on its website: “The amount she stole was enough to have paid for running the rescue for at least five years.”

Judge David Wynn Morgan told Jones, of Sheffield: “You are a cold-blooded, evil and malevolent confidence trickster.”

He jailed her for six years.