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A woman who falsely claimed to be collecting cash for Madeleine McCann has
been jailed for 90 days.
Debbie Clifton, of Boswell Road,
Cannock, Staffs, was sentenced at the town's magistrates court on Monday.
The 33-year-old was charged with two counts of theft - £2.70 in cash and a
garden ornament worth £4 - to fund her drug habit and causing criminal damage.
Madeleine, four, disappeared from the family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal
on 3 May.
Door-to-door
Magistrates heard how Clifton
had been given £2.70 in loose change by a pensioner who believed the money was
going towards a search fund for Madeleine.
She then went from door-to-door in Johnson
Road, Cannock, to
try to collect more cash but was unsuccessful.
Magistrate John Peel said a second pensioner told Clifton to "clear off" because she
was suspicious of her intentions.
Police officers arrested Clifton
soon after and she admitted the thefts in an interview, saying she had needed
to pay off a £10 drug debt.
'Bitter regrets'
However, while on bail Clifton, a heroin addict, smashed a window at the Jolly
Collier pub in Cannock after arguing with her sister over the Madeleine
deception.
Clifton
admitted the two counts of theft and criminal damage at an earlier hearing.
She will serve 74 days of her sentence because of the time she has already
spent on remand.
Jacqueline Coley-Fisher, defending, said her client "bitterly
regretted" using Madeleine's name to obtain the money.
Mrs Coley-Fisher said: "She feels regret in particular to the McCann
family." |
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