Two sisters are facing jail after using stolen credit cards to pay for breast enlargement surgery.
Rishona Downes, 25, and her older sibling Ramona, 27, each splashed out more than £4,000 for the Harley Street treatments within weeks of each other. They paid the bulk of the balance using card details provided by a friend working for a credit firm.
But it wasn’t until six months afterwards that they were rumbled when a technology firm noticed they had unwittingly paid £8,090 for the sisters’ surgery. Today, the sisters were convicted of five counts of fraud at Southwark Crown Court following a week-long trial.
Rishona Downes, 25, and her older sibling Ramona, 27, each splashed out more than £4,000 for the Harley Street treatments within weeks of each other. They paid the bulk of the balance using card details provided by a friend working for a credit firm.
But it wasn’t until six months afterwards that they were rumbled when a technology firm noticed they had unwittingly paid £8,090 for the sisters’ surgery. Today, the sisters were convicted of five counts of fraud at Southwark Crown Court following a week-long trial.
The Downes sisters stood impassive in the dock as the jury returned unanimous guilty verdicts against them after deliberating for more than five hours. During the case it emerged that both women were desperate for surgery because they felt self-conscious about their bodies. Ramona’s partner has complained that 'other girls had bigger t***', while Rishona had felt her breasts were sagging after the birth of her son.
Harley Medical Group: Where the sisters had their surgery Ramona, a former shop assistant at JD Sports, and Rishona, who works at Heathrow Terminal Five, had tried to claim they had no idea the cards were stolen. Judge Christopher Hardy granted them bail ahead of sentencing on April 4, and ordered pre-sentence reports to be carried out by the probation service.
The friend, who cannot be named for legal reasons, also faces prison after she admitted paying for her own breast enlargement surgery using stolen card details. Prosecutor Karen Robinson told the court that the two sisters both had breast enlargement with the Harley Medical Group in London within a month of each other in September and October 2008.
Rishona was the first to undergo the procedure, making a £500 deposit on September 22 that year using stolen card details. The payment was later rejected, and she had to pay the deposit again using her own credit card, but by that point she had already had the operation, paying the £3,795 balance using a different stolen card belonging to a large technology firm.
Ramona underwent the surgery on October 13, paying the £4,295 using the same stolen card as her sister. It was not until the following year that suspicion fell on the Downes sisters and their friend, and they were arrested on March 20, 2009. Both sisters claimed they had thought that the card details their friend had given her were her own. They said she had told them they would be able to pay her back when they could.
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