A 'ruthless' conwoman who pretended to be a barrister, a Wonderbra model, a wealthy heiress, a dying cancer victim and even Heston Blumenthal's 'design guru' has been jailed for an 'extraordinary' catalogue of frauds.

Ryley Cruz, 37, who also used the name Tanya Rowe, netted more than £61,000 from her victims - over half of it from a property developer who lavished cash on her after she contacted him through the 'Sugar Daddies' website, a court heard.

Steven Wood, 54, was left £34,000 worse off after knowing her for just a few weeks.

Often when Cruz's many victims started to chase her for money she would pretend she had suddenly been stricken by cancer, the court was told.

She even managed to get herself admitted to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford where she made victims feel embarrassed and guilty about pursuing her.

Her victims included Denise Jeffreys-Jones, landlady of the Cotswold pub in Bourton on the Water and Matthew Matheou, owner of the Green and Pleasant tea rooms in the village.

Sometimes she used her 'sexual allure' to beguile her male victims, the court was told.

Cruz, of Clarence Parade, Cheltenham, was jailed for a total of five years three months by Judge Jamie Tabor QC after she admitted fourteen charges of fraud, one of posing as a barrister, and two of possessing forged documents for the use of fraud.

She befriended several local business people in Bourton on the Water and cheated them with hard luck stories.

Judge Jamie Tabor QC said: "You are a practiced fraudster. You are quite unconcerned about the effects on your victims.

"When your victims became suspicious, you fled. And when pursued you would play the ace in your pack - you said you had cancer.

Jason Coulter, defending, asked the court to take into account that "most of the sums extracted by my client have been relatively modest."

In Bourton, she leased a cottage from Gillian Beadman but after paying a deposit and first month's rent she defaulted on the rent.

She befriended Denise Jeffreys-Jones, landlady of the Cotswold pub, telling her she was a barrister and even leaving a gown hanging up in the pub to support her story. She claimed to have cashflow problems and borrowed £1,500 from Mrs Jeffreys-Jones - then twice gave her cheques in repayment which bounced.

"When Mrs Jeffreys-Jones began to press her for the debt she said she was in hospital having chemotherapy. It was a cynical and cruel smokescreen to keep this lady off her back," the prosecutor said.

Cruz also befriended Matthew Matheou, owner of the Green and Pleasant Tea Rooms in Bourton. She told him she was a single mum running away from an abusive relationship and, in tears, she claimed that her £60,000 savings had been mislaid by her bank.

"Mr Matheou was well and truly suckered," said Mr Fenny. "He offered £200 to tide her over but she said she needed £1,500 so he gave her that over the next two days."

Mr Fenny said Mr Matheou even provided free food for Cruz and her son because he felt so sorry for them.

"She appeared to him to be a genuine and kind hearted woman. She told him she had substantial funds to come from the recent sale of a house and she was a barrister currently involved in a high profile drug smuggling case in Taiwan," Mr Fenny said.

She even offered to help him in a civil case he was involved in and said one of the Queen's lawyers, Michael Carroll, would be able to fast track Mr Matheou's legal case into the High Court.

However, on the way to the case she pretended to receive a phone call to say it had been aborted.

She later said she was receiving treatment for colon cancer, which made him reluctant to confront her about the money. The cheque she gave him to repay the money bounced.