COCAINE 'LED EX-SAATCHI HIGH-FLIER INTO FRAUD PLOT'

A WOMAN who claimed to have earned six-figure sums while working as an
advertising executive with Saatchi and Saatchi was jailed yesterday after
resorting to fraud to finance a drug habit.

Stephanie Whitworth, 45, was said to have enjoyed the trappings of a
successful career but had "fallen from a great height" and became addicted
to crack cocaine. Judge Simon Darwall Smith, at Gloucester Crown Court, told
her that her criminal behaviour stemmed from the "hedonistic lifestyle" she
had enjoyed during the 1980s.

Whitworth, who admitted three counts of deception involving UKP8,250, fought
back tears as the judge told her she was "a professional deceiver" and
jailed her for a year.

The court heard that her criminal career began in 1991 and since then she
had been convicted of 19 offences of dishonesty, including theft and
deception.

Patrick Burrows, prosecuting, said the latest offences happened when
Whitworth, from Notting Hill, west London, was staying in Gloucester and
persuaded Michaela Zimmerman and Brian Chevis to invest in "an entirely
bogus" scheme. Mr Burrows said: "She told Miss Zimmerman she had a friend in
London in the loan business and that he could return large of amount of
interest on capital. Miss Zimmerman handed her UKP250 for investment but she
also had a friend, Mr Chevis, who had a larger amount of capital available.
This defendant told him that an investment of UKP4,000 would produce
UKP19,000 by the following March."

Mr Chevis later gave Whitworth another UKP4,000 to invest. Charles Row,
defending, told the court that Whitworth had had a "very successful early
career" in advertising. He said: "She was an executive with Saatchi and
Saatchi, earning a six-figure salary for a significant period. She had all
the trappings of an executive life and when she married and had children she
had a nanny and domestic staff.

"She was introduced to cocaine by her husband and at first they would take
it together. But she could not control it. Throughout the 1980s she could
not draw herself out of it. She was also subjected to domestic violence and
a great deal of the money she was earning was spent on drink and drugs."

Mr Row said that in 1991 Whitworth had moved to Cheshire and worked in
telephone directory advertising as a "regional manager". She then set up her
own business with financial help from her father but it failed with huge
losses. He said: "Shortly afterwards her father died. She had been extremely
close to him. Then her husband left her. She was left supporting her
children and other relatives who also relied on her.

"Financially the pressures were enormous and she found it almost impossible
to cope. She turned to crack as a crutch and a release. Her first criminal
offence was in the Wirral in 1991 and her husband was given custody of the
children. She committed these offences while in the grip of addiction. She
is now clear of that addiction and sees it as a reprehensible action. This
is a woman who has fallen from a great height. She has done everything she
can to demonstrate she is on the way back up."

The judge said: "Your antecedent history reveals that you are a professional
deceiver skilled in obtaining money from other people for your own gain. I
suspect your only real regret is that you got caught."

A spokesman for Saatchi and Saatchi said its personnel files dated back 10
years and contained no record of a Stephanie Whitworth being employed by the
firm.

Checked-by: "Rolf Ernst"