‘Shameless’ woman stole £39k from own mother
SHE AVOIDS BEING LOCKED UP BECAUSE COURT HEARS MUM, 90, DID NOT WANT TO SEE DAUGHTER SENT TO JAIL –
A “shameless and devious” woman who stole thousands from her own mother has avoided jail after a court heard her mum did not want to see her go to prison.
Yvonne Lovatt, of Bakewell Green, Newhall, stole a total of £39,000 from her 90-year-old mother over a three-year period after being left in charge of her mum’s bank account, a court has heard.
She had pleaded guilty to theft of the money at a previous hearing and was appearing to be sentenced.
Lovatt, now 64, even called up the Halifax bank pretending to be her mother, instructing the bank to close her mother’s account and transfer the remaining cash to her own account.
Sentencing her at Stafford Crown Court on Thursday, Judge Jonathan Gosling told Lovatt the only reason he was not jailing her was because her mother did not want to send her to prison.
A statement from her mother was read out to the court which said: “I absolutely do not want her to go to prison. She may have stolen from me but she is my daughter.”
Despite originally denying the offence, Lovatt later pleaded guilty to the theft which happened in Burton between September 2013 and January 2017.
Brett Wilson, prosecuting, told the court: “She was looking after her as her carer and took money from her bank account.
“She called Halifax pretending to o be her mother and nd instructed the e bank to close the account and transferred that into her own account.
“[Over the three years] ] she transferred ed the money on a drip, drip, drip p basis, £300 here and £2,000 there, all unbeknown to her mother.
“She She later la denied being t the one who made the call to Haw Halifax but when police obtained the taped conv versation b between her a and Halifax sh she did conced cede.” D Defending, Steve Hennessy said Lovatt Lova admitted that following the theft her mother was extremely dis
Judge Gosling
tressed. The elderly woman suffered with her sleep, lost weight and a loss of confidence.
He added: “She breached that level of trust to her mother for whom she cared for 21 years. She completely wrecked that relationship and took advantage of it.
However, he also told the court that a letter from her GP confirmed Lovatt had suffered from health conditions and since 1993 had been unable to do, “any type of work”.
He said: “Her husband worked but he and their son lost their jobs in 2013 which made finances difficult.
“She then took on the responsibility of looking after her grandchildren.
“She concedes her mother had means and she was tempted to dip into that and then it became a habit she repeated over three years.
“She knows she put her mother through a lot. The fact she had stolen from her and then the prospect of her having to give evidence.”
Mr Hennessy asked the judge not to jail her to “allow her to raise the funds properly to compensate her mother”.
Lovatt was given a two-year prison sentence suspended for two years, including a rehabilitation activity requirement.
The judge said the court would take responsibility for recovering the money to compensate her mother and would hold a hearing in April to see how much she had voluntarily paid back. She was also told she would need to sell her house.
“You come out as devious, dishonest and shameless. Your mother comes out as someone who knows principle...”