A mum-of-two stole £76,000 worth of designer clothes and jewellery after taking a fellow passenger's luggage from a train at Cardiff Central station.
Hajar Al Fahad, 26, boarded a train at London Paddington on September 11, 2018, when she began a conversation with a woman called Fatima Al Shatti and ascertained she was wealthy.
In a "moment of madness" Al Fahad took a blue suitcase belonging to Ms Al Shatti when she collected her own luggage from a rack as the train pulled into Cardiff Central. It wasn't until Ms Al Shatti reached her destination in Swansea that she realised her suitcase had been taken.
The case contained a number of extremely expensive designer items including a Chanel handbag, watches, Cartier necklaces, earrings, bracelets, and gold rings.
Police traced Al Fahad through her purchase of a train ticket at Paddington, but when questioned she claimed the suitcase was hers and later claimed the luxury goods inside were counterfeit.
A sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court on Thursday heard Al Fahad struck up a conversation with Ms Al Shatti after helping her with her suitcases onto the train.
Prosecutor Andrew Davies said the victim noticed the defendant putting her smaller luggage on top of hers on the rack at the end of the carriage.
They sat opposite each other and talked but had to leave the train due to a cancellation. When a replacement arrived Al Fahad helped Ms Al Shatti with her suitcase and arranged the luggage in the same fashion. They then sat talking as the train pulled out of the station.
When the victim went to check on her luggage and to sit in a different carriage the defendant followed and continued to sit near her.
The court heard Al Fahad "added an element of fantasy" to her conversation with Ms Al Shatti, claiming she was wealthy herself and had a cleaner.
She told the victim she was having difficulty with a Barclays application which left her unable to pay the cleaner so Ms Al Shatti agreed to pay the defendant from her account. Al Fahad paid a small sum to Ms Al Shatti's account so she would have her bank details.
Describing the theft itself, Mr Davies said: "At Cardiff the defendant got off the train and in doing so took not only her smaller luggage but the luggage of Ms Al Shatti. Ms Al Shatti did not realise her luggage had been taken until she arrived in Swansea."
On November 12, 2018, officers attended the defendant's address where they found the majority of the items from the suitcase, which came to a total value of £76,559.
A search of Al Fahad's mobile discovered web searches for the items in the suitcase and photographs of herself wearing the items she had stolen.
She was arrested and interviewed but maintained the items were hers. In July 2019 she was interviewed again and claimed the items were counterfeit and had been bought for her.
Police examined the items and established they were genuine and some had the Ms Al Shatti's name attached. Al Fahad later pleaded guilty to theft.
Defence barrister Tim Petrides said his client was born in Kuwait and had moved to the UK aged six. He said she had two young children who would suffer if she was given an immediate custodial sentence.
The barrister added: "The defendant was trying to portray herself beyond her means and an element of fantasy came into the conversation.
"She has described her actions as a 'moment of madness' and in her own words to me 'sorry is not enough'."
Judge Catherine Richards said she accepted Al Fahad did not set out to steal from anyone but carried out an opportunistic theft.
She added: "Why you took that decision that day is incomprehensible considering how much you stand to lose. You entered into a fantasy conversation with the victim and tried to represent yourself as something you were not."
Al Fahad was sentenced to eight months in prison suspended for 12 months and was ordered to carry out a 20-day rehabilitation activity requirement and 150 hours unpaid work.
