Britain's worst-ever conwoman Juliette D'Souza claims she is penniless

Conwoman Juliette D'Souza persuaded vulnerable victims to hand over £5million as she claimed to be a witchdoctor who could heal their loved ones 

A bogus witchdoctor believed to be Britain's most prolific conwoman after she stole £5million from vulnerable victims she duped, said she is penniless and unable to pay them back.

Juliette D'Souza, 59, was jailed for ten years after she persuaded 11 vulnerable victims to hand over huge 'sacrifice payments' to cure terminal illnesses, help disabilities and for fertility treatment.

D'Souza, acting 'out of pure greed', would tell them that their loved-ones 'would die' unless they paid her and spent the cash on designer goods and a celebrity lifestyle in her four flats, a confiscation hearing at Blackfriars Crown Court heard. 

But she now claims 'she has no assets whatsoever' in order to repay her victims. 

The fraudster posed as an intermediary to a ‘shaman’  - a mystic with contact with the spirit world - in the Amazon rainforest. 

She promised her victims that the cash they gave her would be hung from a 'magical tree' deep in the Amazonian rainforest by shamans 'Pa' and 'Oma', according to ancient healing rites. 

Police say the fake mystic was paid at least £1million in cash but probably made more than £5million from the criminal enterprise.

She spent up to £1.5m on flights, antique furniture, Louis Vuitton handbags and rent on multiple flats in Hampstead, as well as a pet monkey later found it one of her homes. 

Maria Karaiskos, prosecuting, said that nine months after being jailed, D'Souza 'essentially disputes everything, including any benefit arising from the convictions'.

She added: 'It is a blanket denial of everything.' 

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The public gallery was packed with D'Souza's victims, including 83-year-old opera singer Sylvia Eaves, who was duped out of more than £256,000 after first employing D'Souza to cure her stomach problems.

Solicitor-advocate Piers Kiss-Wilson said: 'Her case would be she has no assets whatsoever effectively.'  

Prosecutors believe D'Souza is in a position to repay more than £300,000 to her victims - after around £45,000 of jewellery, including Cartier watches and diamonds, were found at one of her four flats. The haul also included a vintage Rolex watch, made during World War Two.

D'Souza is believed to have made £5million from her criminal enterprise spending the cash in designer stores

D'Souza (left) was jailed for the maximum 10 years and a search of her flat found an 'evil eye' hanging (right)

Investigators also need to establish the value of a riverside bungalow in Suriname, South America, the court heard.

D'Souza denies the tropical home belongs to her, despite a north London antique dealer recounting in a statement that she purchased 'wardrobes, dining tables and chests of drawers' to furnish the house.

The conwoman has also accused Hampstead osteopath Keith Bender of stealing the valuable jewellery from her flat, having previously tried to blame the entire fraud on her former friend.

Mr Bender was convinced by D'Souza to pay the rent on several of her flats, but forced his way into one of her properties with a group of her victims, where they discovered an abandoned monkey and a voodoo shrine.

He later cleared out the flat. 

But Miss Karaiskos said D'Souza claimed Mr Bender 'had stolen the jewellery'.

As well as designer handbags D'Souza spent the cash she conned her victims out of on a pet monkey 

'He was questioned about it...he said he had taken it along with a lot of other property.

'He has still got it and he has given it to the police. That valuation that we have is just under £45,000.'

She added: 'As things stand, the defendant is denying all of the benefit figures, including those that are on the indictment.'

Piers Kiss-Wilson, D'Souza's solicitor-advocate, said: 'The assets attributed to her are in the region of £280,000... some of those assets are in the hands of the police 

Judge Ian Karsten previously jailed D'Souza for 10 years after she was found guilty of 23 fraud charges. He said: 'It is the worst case of confidence fraud that I have ever had to deal with on indeed that I have ever heard of.

'It seems to me that you have wrecked the lives of a number of victims and you have done it out of pure greed.'

The conwoman had claimed to have a client list that once included Princess Diana and music mogul Simon Cowell, persuaded wealthy residents of London's upmarket Hampstead to hand over huge sums over a decade. 

Bags from expensive shops were found at D'Souza's home, but she claims to have no money to repay victims

Voodoo dolls and Chanel bottles were found in D'Souza's flat and she was later jailed for 10 years

Investigators found some victims were so deeply ‘under her spell’ they agreed to sell their homes and borrow huge sums.

One mother of a 10-year-old boy with Down's syndrome was conned out of £42,000 by D'Souza in 2004 after the fake healer claimed the cash would cure his behavioural problems.

Another woman, the wife of a globe-trotting City high-flyer, who was granted anonymity to protect her family, was duped her into handing over £170,000. She was told by D'Souza the ‘devil’ child would be born deformed, prompting her to terminate it.

Retired solicitor Richard Collier-Wright also paid £7,000 to D'Souza to cure his leukaemia.

Sunday Times photographer Jocelyn Bain-Hogg began paying cash to D'Souza in late 2004 to help his mother who was having heart surgery, racking up £43,000 in 'sacrifice' payments to D'Souza.

D'Souza had 'told him his mother would die if he didn't pay'.

A number of victims are thought not to have come forward because of embarrassment at being duped by the conwoman. 

D'Souza is pictured as a younger woman and was found guilty of 23 counts of fraud at a trial last year 

When friends went to one of her four flats in Hampstead, they found they were filled with piles of rubbish and unopened designer bags.

In one an 'Evil Eye' symbol hung on the wall, burned photographs buried face down in earth, freezers filled with rotting meat and a brand new barrister's wig.

There were also diaries suggesting that her Hampstead victims were just one of several groups she was scamming

D'Souza, of Hampstead, north London, was convicted of 23 counts of fraud and obtaining property by deception.

The precise benefit to D'Souza from her crimes and the realisable sum she will have to pay back have yet to be agreed.

he hearing continues.

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