A FRAUDSTER posed as a charity collector raising funds for his sick brother – months after being released from prison for a similar scam.

Homeless Wayne Kinvig, 19, falsely told a number of Burnley businesses that the money he was collecting would go towards treatment for blind Bailey Foster.

Dad-of-one Kinvig, who gave his address as the Stepping Stone Project in Westgate, Burnley, pleaded guilty to four counts of fraud at Burnley Magistrates’ Court.

He was jailed for eight months in January after a PCSO caught him operating a similar scam.

Lancashire Police said Kinvig carried around a sponsorship booklet in the name of Daniel Foster and had secured several donations from shops in Burnley town centre.

When a police officer recognised Kinvig on the street and searched him, he claimed the sponsorship form belonged to a friend from Preston.

Officers then asked for Mr Foster to contact police to verify his existence, and then contacted those who had pledged sponsorship when he failed to do so.

When interviewed, those businesses said Kinvig posed as a fundraiser for the Bailey Foster Appeal, a legitimate charity which raised around £40,000 in 2011 and 2012.

The three-year-old from Ince, near Wigan, was born with septo-optic dysplasiam, a rare condition which required him to fly to China for stem cell treatment last year with his parents, Shelley Dunn and Mark Foster.

Magistrates ordered Kinvig, who must wear an electronic tag, to obey a four-week curfew which means he must stay at the Stepping Stone Project from 7pm to 7am until November 13.

A Lancashire Police spokeswoman said it was ‘not clear’ how much money had changed hands between Kinvig and the victims of his fraud.

Kinvig was also ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £60 and court costs of £40.