A ‘SERIOUSLY dishonest’ grandmother forged the signature of her ex-husband so that she could take out life insurance worth �100,000 in his name.

Lisa Clarke was told she had ‘innate and perpetual selfishness’ when she appeared in front of judge at Bristol Crown Court last week.

The 43-year-old was handed a conditional discharge for applying to have the life of her children’s father covered without his knowledge.

Clarke, who has previously been jailed for a list of fraud offences and was also recalled to jail because of her offending at one stage, appeared relatively emotionless as she sat in the dock on August 5.

As well as a two-year sentence to be suspended for six months, she was ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work in the community and abide by a 12-month supervision requirement.

Clarke was told by Judge Julian Lambert that even a minor offence committed over the next six months would land her back in prison.

Judge Lambert said: “In the past you have proven yourself to be seriously dishonest.

“If you so much as commit a shop-lifting offence over the next six months, away you will go.”

Clarke set up the fraudulent insurance with Aviva in June 2009, for it to commence the following month.

The address on the company’s system was that of the next door neighbour to the matrimonial home she once shared with her ex-husband.

Clarke, who earns �29,000 a year, said this was a genuine error, but when a confirmation letter fell into the hands of the person living at that house he passed the letter on to her ex-husband who he still knows.

At an earlier court hearing for the offence Clarke pleaded not guilty to the offence, before changing her mind at a later date.