Girl who made her granny cry by stealing £3,000 funeral cash

A TEENAGE girl has been told she is lucky to have escaped being jailed after stealing £3,000 her granny was saving for her funeral.

Chloe Knutson, 18, made her granny cry after sneaking into a locked bedroom and grabbing the money from a wardrobe safe.

She wanted the money for “legal highs, alcohol and maybe a new pair of trainers”, a court heard.

After her grandmother called police, Knutson was arrested and found to have £2,900 stuffed down her bra.

Knutson, of Scotswood, Newcastle upon Tyne, told police: “I was sick of not having any money and I knew my grandmother had some, so I thought, **** it.”

She appeared before North Tyneside magistrates and pleaded guilty to burglary.

Giving her an 18-week jail sentence, suspended for a year, and ordering her to do 150 hours of unpaid work, District Judge Bernard Begley said she was lucky to escape going straight to jail.

He said: “Hopefully you have realised how mean an offence this is. You're effectively being trusted by your grandmother and you have abused that trust.”

Lee Poppett, prosecuting, said the money was stolen while the grandmother was out. He said: “She was saving the money for her brother's funeral and for her own funeral.”

Mr Poppett added: “The complainant noticed the wardrobe door was open and straight away checked for the safe and noticed it was not there. At that point, she began to cry.”

In a victim statement, Knutson's grandmother said: “When I noticed the safe was gone, I felt physically sick.

“I got really upset and I felt as though I'd let my brother down because some of the money is his. I feel very let down by Chloe. I have tried to help her.”

Stephen Moore, defending, said Knutson had a difficult childhood and had turned to psychoactive substances, known as legal highs.

He said: “It is clearly a distressing offence for the grandmother but she wants to see her granddaughter get help.” Lucky not to be going straight to prison... Chloe Knutson, 18, outside court where she admitted stealing her gran’s £3,000 funeral cash