Greedy couple drained pensioner’s life savings after gaining his trust | UK News

A greedy and heartless couple ‘preyed on’ a very vulnerable pensioner and drained his bank accounts of about £70,000 in a ‘cruel’ and ‘disgraceful’ breach of trust.

They secretly worked together to ‘enrich’ themselves at his expense after winning his trust and they callously spent his precious money on a trip to Australia and a car. The unsuspecting pensioner suffered from Alzheimer’s disease and was not mentally well enough to manage his own money so he trusted his carers to help him.

He had since died and he had no idea in the last years that the couple were systematically raiding his savings in an ‘awful’ way, Hull Crown Court heard. Ann Park, 56, of Woodlands Road, off Willerby Road, west Hull, admitted two offences of theft of £45,000 and £5,000 cash and another involving possessing criminal property.

Graham Bradley, 57, of the same address, admitted two money laundering offences of acquiring criminal property of £20,000 and £6,940. The case had originally been listed for trial.

Ben Sayers, prosecuting, said that Park and Bradley were long-term partners and she had been employed as a carer under a scheme where a person nominated would take on the role of a trustee. The person would receive an allowance from the council and would pay carers and expenses from that allowance rather than the money being managed by the council directly.

Park worked in 2008 as a carer for a woman who needed a number of carers. The woman was a friend of the elderly man, who would visit her regularly.

It was through this woman that Park first became associated with the pensioner. He suffered from Alzheimer’s disease and he would often forget things, including his wallet, bank cards and bus passes.

At around this time, Park and Bradley began providing assistance to the pensioner. “This was initially by way of providing lifts or accompanying him to the bank so that he could draw out money,” said Mr Sayers.

Over time, they became more involved in the pensioner’s life and he grew to trust and rely upon them. In 2014, the man indicated that he would like Park to care for him and she took over this role.

‘She was in a position where she was in almost full control of his finances and would have known what money he had coming in,’ said Mr Sayers. The spending patterns of his accounts changed significantly.

There were a number of cash withdrawals from his bank account. On April 16, 2014, he had £65,000 in his bank account but, on April 25 of that year, £20,000 was paid by cheque to the current account of Bradley.

On April 29 of that year, £45,000 was paid by cheque from the pensioner’s account to that of Park.

‘Shortly after these transfers, it appears that both Bradley and Park opened new bank accounts to facilitate the dispersal of monies which had been taken from him,’ said Mr Sayers.

Bradley transferred £1,000 into a new account and £5,940 into a separate new account on May 16, 2014.

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