A concert violinist who conned people, including a grieving widow, out of more than £350,000 by claiming she had terminal cancer has been jailed for 32 months.

Bethan Doci, 38, pretended to be dying of cancer and placed an advert asking for money for life-saving treatment.

Wealthy businessmen offered to loan her cash in response to the plea Doci placed on classified ad website Craigslist, Swansea Crown Court heard.

One of her victims had lost his wife to cancer just months earlier, the court heard.

Instead, Doci used the money to fund an extravagant lifestyle of five-star hotels, luxury apartments and fast cars with her boyfriend, Aureliun Severino.

Their spending spree included a three-month holiday to the luxury Me Melia Hotel in Cancun, a trip to Florida and holidaying in a large "sumptuous" villa in Marbella.

Doci, who was previously known as Bethan Morgan, forged documents, including a letter from a doctor saying she had cancer.

She also sent victims emails purporting to be from her sister and told people her mother had died from a heart attack.

Prosecutor Catherine Richards said Doci, a professional violinist, defrauded work colleagues, friends and wealthy businessmen out of a total of £357,000.

Doci, who underwent successful treatment to remove potentially cancerous moles in 2012, had never been diagnosed with a terminal illness.

The court heard that in 2010 she told fellow musicians raised £1,900 after she told them she was suffering from cancer.

In 2013 Doci stole grieving IT consultant Liam Donnelly's life savings.

Sixty-seven-year-old Mr Donnelly's wife had died months earlier after a late diagnosis of cancer, the court heard.

"Mr Donnelly told Bethan Doci the circumstances of his wife's death and she told him she had the same condition and was in serious financial trouble and was unable to work due to this cancer," Mrs Richards said.

"She told a number of lies to get money from him. The lies and deception are contrived to contain some fact and fiction, she added."

In a statement to the court, Mr Donnelly said Doci "wiped me out" financially and had taken all his life savings, leaving him with an uncertain retirement.

"I find it hard to comprehend the lies that she has told, even telling me that her mother had died from a heart attack," he said.

"My children have lost their inheritance and I feel I have let them down."

At a previous hearing, Doci from Swansea, pleaded guilty to 11 charges of fraud, which spanned three years from 2010 to 2013.

She denied a further 11 charges which were ordered to lie on file.

Paul Spreadborough, defending, said Doci was remorseful for her crimes and intended to pay back the money she had stolen.

"She became caught in a classic and tragic spiral of lies, debt and deceit," he said.

"She hopes that by paying the price to society in the sentence imposed by the court she can move on and then start to repair the faith and trust others put in her by making payments back to them."