A wife fleeced her Ilford husband and ­family out of £250,000 by lying about having terminal brain cancer.

Jasmin Mistry, 36, who has since moved to Mallard Road, Loughborough, said she needed money for treatment in the US but spent it on luxury goods.

She kept up the ruse for two years and was only caught out when her husband showed a scan of her head to a friend who was a doctor, who said the image had been copied from Google.

Mistry appeared at Snaresbrook Crown Court on Friday, December 14, for sentencing after previously admitting fraud by false representation in October.

The judge heard that Mistry first told her husband, who she has since separated from, that she had cancer in 2013.

This claim was supported by a Whatsapp message sent by what he thought was her doctor.

Investigations revealed that this message was sent by Mistry, using a different SIM card.

At the end of December 2014, she told her partner that she had brain cancer and had six months to live, with further messages from another fictitious doctor suggesting that it could be treated in America – at a cost of around £500,000.

Her former husband then contacted family and friends to ask for donations.

Mistry also defrauded a man she met through a dating website out of nearly £7,500, and two members of the public to whom she lied about being a trader who could invest their money, and who gave around £10,000.

The court heard that Mistry’s ex-husband became suspicious when a friend of his saw a picture of a brain scan that she claimed was taken at one of her consultations.

He found the image on Google, and said that the tumour was so severe that it would be fatal for the person with it.

He discovered Sim cards Mistry used to send messages pretending to be other people, and when confronting her she admitted that she had lied.

Police were contacted in November 2017, and Mistry was arrested.

When interviewed, Mistry confirmed to officers that she was not terminally ill, and that she did not know why she had lied.

Officers from the East Area Crime Command launched an investigation, led by Det Con Jon Bounds and Det Con Dal Riyat.

They spoke to witnesses, and medical records were obtained which confirmed that Mistry had never been diagnosed with cancer or been advised to seek treatment.

Her finances were reviewed, and it was found that 20 members of her extended family and eight others were found to have given her money.

The total fraud amount was calculated as £253,122.

She was charged with one count of fraud by false representation on August 20.

Det Con Jon Bounds from East Area CID, said: “I am glad for the victims of this deceit that they have seen justice.

“Jasmine Mistry went to extreme lengths to manipulate those closest to her emotionally and financially to defraud her now-former husband and his family out of a large sum of money.

“This is a bizarre, shocking case. Our investigation revealed the scale of the fraud and the severity of the offending which has resulted in a substantial custodial sentence.”

The Judge sentenced Minstry to four years behind bars.