A cleaner who swindled her clients and fabricated NHS letters to avoid her day in court, managed to jet off on at least four holidays, including her honeymoon.
Karla Michelle Hood claimed that a severe medical condition prevented her from facing the consequences of her thefts of cash and jewellery while working as a cleaner. However, her lies were exposed through her Facebook account, leading to her imprisonment.
Teesside Crown Court was informed that in October 2020, the 41 year old was employed as a cleaner and stole an engagement ring from a client’s house. Prosecutor Anthony Pettengell stated that Hood had told her employer she would drop the client’s keys through their letterbox while they were away. Instead, she used the keys to enter the house and steal £40 in cash.
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The court in Middlesbrough also heard that two more rings were stolen at some point, reports Teesside Live. The victim, who was deeply upset over the loss of her engagement ring, had lost sleep and searched her house for it.
The stolen jewellery was eventually traced back to a Ramsden shop. Hood, from Grange Avenue, Billingham, pleaded guilty to theft and burglary in early 2021.
However, before she could be sentenced, she was involved in a car crash in March 2021, which resulted in severe injuries, including the need for a leg brace. Over the next two years, Hood made numerous false claims about why she couldn’t attend court for sentencing, including submitting four counterfeit NHS letters claiming she was unfit.
One letter alleged she was undergoing a procedure and required bedrest, another that she was having her leg brace removed – when in fact this had been done months earlier – and another stating she was bedbound and unable to bear weight on her leg. However, an investigation revealed that in May 2022, her Facebook account showed she was jetting off to Valencia, Spain, for her honeymoon.
She later took two trips to Florence and another to Alicante. She also mentioned she was working. Mr Pettengell stated that the lies had caused two years of delays to the court proceedings.
The court heard that Hood, who admitted to perverting the course of justice, has 33 previous convictions for 94 offences, many of which are for fraud. Jonathan Walker, defending, said Hood had indeed suffered a ‘grotesque injury’ and was unfit for court for a period of time.
He said she developed a liking for court cases being adjourned and then wrote the letters. Addressing the court, Mr Walker highlighted that his client was not trying to evade her sentence but merely postpone it. He emphasised her concerns about who would look after her teenage daughter should she be sent to prison.
Mr Walker conveyed: “All she has effectively done is put off the dreaded day.”
Furthermore, he expressed: “All that has happened is that justice has been delayed and has affected the defendant enormously.”
Judge Deborah Sherwin, said she recognised Hood’s intention was to defer rather than avoid justice, however, she noted this had resulted in delays to judicial proceedings during a period of significant pressure on the court system. Consequently, the judge handed Hood a nine-month sentence for burglary and theft, plus an additional 25 months for perverting the course of justice.
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