A WOMAN who frittered away £115,000 of her sick aunt’s money has been jailed.
Sentencing Yvonne Davies to two years and five months imprisonment, a Swindon judge said she had treated 88-year-old Lillian Owen’s money as her personal piggy bank.
Davies, who appeared shell shocked as she sat in the Swindon Crown Court dock, stole around £115,000 from her aunt between 2013 and 2016, with the fraud starting nine months after she had been appointed as a deputy responsible for safeguarding her relative’s affairs. With her husband, she paid back £39,000 only when the net began to close around them.
The 65-year-old, of Thornhill Drive, had denied a charge of fraud by abuse of position – profiting by around £70,000. She was convicted by a Swindon jury in June.
The court heard mum-of-three Davies and her husband had transferred Ms Owen’s money into their accounts, stopping a small donation to the Dog’s Trust and axing birthday gifts of £5 to £10 to nieces and nephews while the Davies’ children were handed large sums.
The money went on renovating the Davies property, gifts and paying for meals out. Ms Owen, who suffers from dementia, was unaware of what the woman responsible for handling her affairs had been doing.
Judge Jason Taylor QC said: “This was greed, pure and simple. Greed for yourself and greed for your immediate family over anyone else.”
Davies should have safeguarded Ms Owen’s affairs, he added: “You didn’t do that. Along with your husband you systematically set about using her money as your personal piggy bank.
“Whilst in a position of trust you used what you saw as an open cheque book to feather your nest, frittering away an inheritance of which you were not the only beneficiary.”
Davies and her husband attempted to cover their tracks, giving misleading information to the Office of the Public Guardian – the government body responsible for overseeing the deputyship process.
“It was only when the net started closing in you and your husband hastily repaid £39,000 of the money, hoping it would cover your tracks. It didn’t,” Judge Taylor said.
Prosecuting, Rob Welling said Ms Owen’s entire £127,000 estate had been exhausted: “Mrs Davies said in interview she was ashamed of taking so much. She seemed to blame everybody and anybody but herself for the situation she was in.”
Natalie McNamee, defending, said her client suffered from poor mental and physical health had had been assessed as a potential suicide risk by a psychiatric expert.
“She is ashamed of what she’s done and she has said so on a number of occasions. She is desperately keen to protect her children from the consequences of all of this,” Ms McNamee said.
It was suggested that Davies had been coerced into taking the money by her accountant husband.
However, Judge Taylor questioned Davies’ account, saying he believed the defendant knew her own mind and was fully capable of holding her own.
He added: “I am in no doubt I saw your true colours during the trial and you are not the victim you make yourself out to be.
“What I believe you have shown is self-pity.
“Old age and ill health don’t give you licence to break the law. Neither does it give you a get out of jail free card.”
Reacting to the sentencing, Det Con Beverley Mobey of Wiltshire Police’s fraud department said: “These types of cases are always very sad, due to the breach of trust and the fact that a vulnerable, elderly person has been taken advantage of for someone’s financial gain.
“If people are concerned about someone they know being defrauded out of money, either by a stranger or by someone they know and trust, then they should report it to the police or Action Fraud.”
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