THIS is the woman at the centre of a “cruel and sophisticated” fraud which robbed a couple of their dream of parenthood and their savings.

Former University of York student, Samantha Cookes, promised to be a surrogate mother for the childless North Yorkshire couple – but took them for all they had.

Cookes told a series of lies about her background and employment as she convinced her victims, who live in Northallerton, she was the ideal woman to carry their longed-for baby.

She said she was a social worker and had been a surrogate for a wealthy family in the Midlands – and provided references from the “grateful” mother.

The 23-year-old asked for money upfront – for contracts, legal fees, expenses and insemination kits – as the couple excitedly planned the pregnancy.

After parting with savings of more than £1,200, the couple were devastated when they realised she was a fraudster preying on their desperate situation.

Cookes walked free from Teesside Crown Court after a judge heard that she has been plagued by psychiatric problems since losing a child to cot death.

The court heard how Cookes left her course at the University of York in her first year after discovering she was 17 weeks’ pregnant – but planned to return after the birth.

Kieran Rainey, mitigating, said she was “enjoying being a mother,” but in November 2008 she put the baby to sleep and took a nap herself. She woke to find the baby dead in her crib.

She tried to resume her studies in the Midlands, but was excluded when she failed to complete the required Criminal Records Bureau and occupational health checks.

Martin Towers, prosecuting, told the court that police found fake paperwork which purported to show Cookes was a social worker with an honours degree.

In the recycle bin on her computer was, among other things, a surrogacy contract dated April 28, and an expenses document dated the previous day.

A letter from Cookes, of Ferndale Avenue, Telford, was read out in court. In it, she said: “I want to apologise for my mistake and the hurt I've caused. I'm truly sorry.”

Cookes was given a nine-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, with Probation Service supervision after she admitted fraud by false representation.

The judge, Recorder Ben Nolan, also ordered her to pay £1,890 in compensation – which includes the money she took and the added costs the couple incurred.

He said it was only the "complex psychological and emotional background" which had saved her from immediate jail.

He told Cookes: “Your victims were particularly vulnerable because their natural and unfulfilled desire was to have children.”