Victims of con artist Wendy Francis expressed relief at the four-year jail sentence meted out to her.Magistrate Khamisi Tokunbo locked the serial offender up on Thursday for 36 offences including stealing a puppy and credit cards and swindling car buyers out of money.Francis — a mother-of-three who worked as a caregiver for the elderly — claims she suffers from kleptomania, which is a compulsive urge to steal.Her lawyer said she needed mental health treatment, but nothing appropriate is available at public expense and her family cannot afford to pay.Mr Tokunbo described Francis, who has a long list of previous convictions including crimes of dishonesty and illegal dog breeding, as “dangerous” and “manipulative”.Speaking out after the case, the owner of a stud Shih Tzu used to breed with Francis’s own dog told how she allegedly swindled her out of $10,000.The breeder, who asked to remain anonymous, said: “Wendy and her husband agreed to pay $2,000. Her pup had five puppies and she told me she was going to sell them for $2,500 each ... Wendy turned on me when I requested payment and I was, naturally, quite shocked.“I then requested a pup instead of the $2,000 and things turned even uglier. So I got a lawyer's letter done up, sent it by registered mail and still no response from Wendy Francis. I said I would take further 'legal steps' and ended up paying out over $100 further for courts summonses, warrants, etc. I went to court twice and even mentioned to the judge that if she is not stopped from breeding, something bad is going to happen.”According to the breeder, Francis bred her dog again six months later and ended up having it confiscated because she did not have a breeders’ licence.“She never appeared for our cases until she was arrested for something else and then our case was mentioned. Wendy Francis told the judge she only agreed to pay me $1,000. I never pursued the case because I felt the justice system wasn't working in my favour, so I gave up,” said the breeder.“I also know of one of three landlords who was going to take her to court for not paying rent but he gave up as well. She profited over $10,000 from our agreement and I have no idea what happened to the funds.“I believe she will never, ever change because there is something mentally wrong with her. Four years is not enough and unfortunately her poor daughters have to lose their mother for a couple of years. My only hope is that they grow far beyond this unfortunate episode into lovely young ladies.”Another victim — a previous landlord — said: “It certainly seems like Mr Tokunbo has seen her for exactly what she is. Being in prison may or may not curb her modus operandi, but at best it will keep her off the streets with less chance of someone else unwittingly falling prey to her smooth operating tactics.“I am generally savvy in terms of people management, but it took me almost a year in a stressful landlord/tenant situation fielding her propensity for lies and well-versed deceit tactics, to deduce what an expert scam artist she is.“I often wonder how many other landlords may also have been affected by her, and like me, rather than pursuing restitution were just satisfactorily relieved to see the back of her getting out of our rental unit.”Francis must complete two years of probation after her release, and the magistrate recommended she undergo counselling and rehabilitation.