Son charges elderly mother £400 a day for visiting her in care home

A FINANCIAL consultant charged his dementia-stricken mother £400 a day for visiting her in her care home, it was revealed yesterday.

The 2-year-old pocketed nearly £120,000 from his mother in ‘expenses’ yet failed to pay her care home fees, investigators said.

And he said it would be pointless to repay the money, because the 87-year-old woman would be dead ‘sooner rather than later’.

His behaviour was condemned by a judge as ‘repugnant’.

Senior Judge Denzil Lush told the Court of Protection: ‘One would be hard pressed to find a more callous and calculating attorney, who has so flagrantly abused his position of trust.’ The judge stripped the man, identified only as Martin from Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, of the power to act as attorney.

He had previously controlled her finances and the proceeds of her home, sold nearly nine years ago for £189,000.

Judge Lush said: ‘I believe that charging one’s elderly mother a daily rate of £400 for visiting and acting as her attorney is repugnant.’

Martin, a former project manager for accountancy firm Ernst and Young, became an independent financial consultant in the 1990s. Now retired, he told the court he charged his mother the same daily rate for visiting her at her Herefordshire nursing home and for managing her affairs as he would have charged his business clients.

He said it made little sense to repay his mother: ‘I am the sole beneficiary of the estate and any restitution I made would come straight back to me on my mother’s death, which considering her present state of health, is likely to be sooner rather than later.’