"An unsuspecting couple, who spoke little English, had trusted Patel to help them get a £74,000 mortgage to buy their council house - unaware she had secretly acquired a £28,198 loan in their names, using confidential information they gave her," prosecuting lawyer, Jonathan Eley told the Leicester Crown Court. 

Unable to read English, they unwittingly signed loan documents she presented to them in 2006 and when they queried why their repayments were so expensive, Patel fobbed them off with excuses, Eley added. 

"In February 2008, a Money Advice Centre employee unravelled the fraud before the couple and phoned Patel, who confessed, but threatened to kill herself if police was informed. She admitted to six frauds," he said. 

The offences were committed between December 2004 and April 2006. 

"The victims suffered heartache and were worried, as they saw it, by unwarranted demands for money from banks. She obtained loans in their names and left them to pay for them. No payments were made on the car, which was repossessed," Eley said. 

Patel has also been banned from being a company director for 10 years.

"She was motivated by greed to fund a lavish lifestyle and it also enabled her to send her children to private school," Simon Boden of the Leicestershire Police Economic Crime Unit said.