£1 fine for serial fraudster who stole Poppy Appeal cash

Claire Kierczek pretended to be a Royal British Legion representative. Credit: Paul Beard

A serial fraudster who pretended to be a Royal British Legion representative to swipe Poppy Appeal cash has been fined just £1.

Heroin addict Claire Kierczek swapped empty collection tins for full ones at an Asda store in Coventry last November.

But she has avoided jail after being convicted of two counts of fraud, instead being given a 12 month suspended sentence.

Kierczek was also fined just £1 at Warwick Crown Court for breaking the terms of a previous, two-month suspended sentence.

Warwick Crown Court heard the 32-year-old used fake British Legion ID to dupe staff at an Asda branch in Coventry into allowing her to leave with two tins.

One was a Poppy Appeal jar which contained around £200.

Kierczek, of Netherton, Dudley, pulled the same stunt again before she was arrested, taking an Air Ambulance collection tin containing around £50 from a trophy store, also in Coventry.

The judge added: