A Christchurch District Court hearing in Rangiora heard how Phipps racked up her latest convictions, which a judge said had a "high level'' of premeditation and deception.
It was revealed she posed as her mother-in-law in 2009 to secure a loan she used to splash out on a $30,000 Dorado powerboat.
At the same time, she ripped off another finance company, again posing as her unsuspecting mum-in-law, to get cash to buy a new $16,000 Holden Commodore.
She sold the car and boat.
When the loan companies came chasing payment, she repeatedly wrote them personal bank cheques which were all dishonoured.
She also stole from close friends and employers, as well as friendly neighbours.
In one case she asked a friend to write her a cheque for $28.06 in exchange for $30 cash.
Phipps later altered the cheque so it read $2806 _ and used it to pay an outstanding rent bill.
Despite her appalling record, and latest string of crimes which stretched back to August 2006, Judge Alistair Garland took pity on her.
He sentenced her to 12 months of home detention and ordered her to pay reparation of $35,538.37, with $5000 to be paid "forthwith'' and the rest at $75 per week.
The judge also ordered her to undertake treatment or counselling.
Defence counsel Tony Garrett said a "genuine illness'' was behind his client's offending.
"The offending may give the impression of someone wanting to live beyond their means _ an elevated lifestyle. It all has the components of grandeur which isn't deserved.''
Judge Garland told a teary-eyed Phipps why she escaped jail.
"This was a gross breach of trust in relation to friends, employers and authorities. The level of premeditation and deception was very high.
"You claim to have little memory of your offending, which I find hard to believe. You say that when you're stressed, you turn to crime. I know a number of people who suffer from the same illness and they certainly don't turn to crime as you do.
"You have 72 previous convictions for dishonesty. It is thought your mental state was a factor in some of your offending, and I agree. But for your mental health issues, a fulltime custodial sentence would have been appropriate.''
In 2002, when she was known as Andrea de la Hunt and working as a personal banker in Auckland, she was convicted for trying to kill her partner, Darryl French.
While trying to avoid detection from bank bosses after stealing $52,000 from her cousin's account, and forging documents to try to draw $165,000 from another customer, she laced her partner's dinner with 16 sleeping tablets.
The tablets left a sour taste and Mr French left it unfinished.
Foiled, but unperturbed, she later put lavender oil on his pillow to send him to sleep and poured petrol through their North Shore lounge and stairway. The blaze caused extensive damage but nobody was hurt.
She was jailed for attempted murder, theft as a servant, forgery, and arson but the sentence was reduced to two-and-a-half years after the Court of Appeal ruled the sentencing judge had not made sufficient allowance for her bipolar disorder.
Phipps was later jailed again for stealing more than $70,000 from the small Christchurch family-owned manufacturing company where she worked as office manager.
In 2008, she was convicted for a series of tax frauds in Christchurch involving more than $100,000 when Judge Paul Kellar told her: "It's apparent you have become addicted to money.''
- APNZ
