Nurse admits part in eBay con

A NURSE has admitted accepting gifts worth £5,000 from the proceeds of her boyfriend's eBay scam.

The Bolton trial of Louise Gregory, 27, was dramatically halted after she confessed to getting a car, cash and a holiday out of the £23,500 fraud.

Louise Gregory was later sentenced to 150 hours of community service

The judge told her she 'must have known or suspected' the money came from crime and warned she could face either a suspended jail sentence or a community punishment. Her boyfriend at the time, Jason Hart, 33, of Moorside Avenue, Farnworth, Bolton, had already pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud. The court was told that valuable tickets to concerts and national sporting events, mobile phones, computer consoles and watches were sold via the online auction site, but customers never received the goods they had paid for. The total fraud amounted to £23,500. Gregory, of Victoria Street, Farnworth, denied a charge of conspiracy to commit fraud after 28 ebay customers paid for goods that they never received. Judge Steven Everett discharged the jury after she pleaded guilty to a new charge of acquiring criminal property. Gregory admitted that she acquired a £2,000 car, cash and holiday vouchers from Hart between August 2006 and May 2007 - worth a total of £5,000. Hart, the court was told, had used money from the fraud to buy her the goods. Judge Everett said: "Louise Gregory received property that she must have known or suspected had come from something that was dishonest. "She acquired criminal property because Hart had purchased items for her that had come from the dishonest operation. "She undoubtedly received items that were purchased for her by Mr Hart from monies he dishonestly obtained in the ebay scam." The court heard that 28 innocent victims were duped out of £23,500 and individual losses ranged from around £100 to as much as £5,000. Victims came from Britain and overseas. Gregory, who has no previous criminal convictions, was bailed to appear again at Bolton crown court for sentence on January 30.